#and now he’s showing me his star wars lego collection and i’m telling him that i have a lightsaber????

[givemea-dam-break]

guys help i was talking to an old friend about star wars and how i can’t watch it chronologically sometimes because it emotionally wrecks me and he said (and i quote) “if it makes it easy i could accompany you”????????? 😳😳😳😱😱😱 what does this MEAN???????? and when i said i am an ugly crier he said he accepts that??????? and then asked when im free?????????

[ronnie-azumane]

Haikyuu guys as stuff my dad did

This idea has been in my brain for a while, so I'm writing it out. Hope y'all enjoy :)

CW: idn, its pretty wholesome

Daichi answers your frantic phone call home expressing that you forgot your backpack and laptop for college when you went home over the weekend. Expressing that all of your notes are in the backpack, he decides to wake-up extra early Monday morning and make the 2 1/2 hour drive to your university, then drive all the way back to your hometown to go to work.

Sugawara came up with the best hiding spot for you while playing hide and seek at your 7th birthday party. He squeezed you in-between the back of the couch and the back couch cushions. Then, he sat in front of it to conceal the awkward lump it made in the couch. It took the others 30 minutes before giving up and telling you to come out.

Asahi asks you to style his hair for a zoom meeting he has later that day. After some deliberation, you both decide to do a mohawk style. He braces himself as you run off to get the brush, hairspray, hair gel, and hairdryer.

Nishinoya still wears the Annoying Orange shirt you got him when you were in 3rd grade. It's faded and has a giant picture of Annoying Orange on it, which faded from popularity in 2010, but he still wears it. In public.

Tanaka makes the dumbest jokes while in the audience of your colorguard/dance competitions. For example, he asked your mom if he should shout "Go get 'em George" to the group of girls performing to confuse everyone. Another favorite joke o his is to chant "the worm, the worm,, we worship the worm" while the previous team is carrying out their floor.

Ennoshida talks with you as you make one of the biggest changes in your life. Midway through your second semester at university, you determine that business is not for you, however, you do not have a backup plan. Talking with him, you end up changing your major to Geography, and now you love every second of it.

Kageyama drinks the milk out of you cereal. You hate the taste of milk by itself, but you don't want to eat dry cereal. To not waste milk, he drinks it after you finish eating your cereal.

Hinata fails miserably when your mom tells him to reapply the medical glue on your forehead. The day before, your sister threw a wooden block at you, causing a major tear in your head. Your mom took you to the emergency room, but they were busy and it was a school night, so they told her to just take some liquid band aid (which we called glue) and close the wound. Your mom told him to replace the glue, and he took ELMERS GLUE and placed it on the open wound. It hurt like a bitch.

Tsukishima takes you to go see the museum of natural history once a month. He knows you're the odd girl out of your class that would rather play with dinosaurs than dolls, so he takes you to see the dinosaur fossils. He also gets a discount because his place of work donated a significant amount of money and resources to one of the exhibits.

Yamaguchi helped set up your setup once you moved to zoom university. He attached your laptop to a monitor his job had extra, so now you feel like a badass whenever you use the two screens.

Oikawa out of nowhere invites all his high school friends over to stay the week at your house. A trip that probably should have been planned in weeks, even months, is planned in just a weekend. Everyone ends up sleeping on air mattresses and blankets on the floor due to your mom just finishing up replacing the floors in the house (she was not too happy with the sudden trip, but was welcoming anyway)

Iwaizumi makes you watch Godzilla with him whenever it's on TV. Some of his fondest memories include receiving Godzilla themed ornaments from his mom ever Christmas. He also unironically watches those cheesy fan-made Godzilla fights on YouTube for hours on end. Man just likes Godzilla.

Hanamaki and you wear funny hats to a volunteer cookout. The organizers told every one to wear a hat so that their hair didn't get in the food, but you two take it a step further. You wear a banana hat while he wears a hotdog hat.

Matsukawa taught you how to make all kinds of breakfast food at a young age. Whether it was a simple as a fried egg or as complex as French toast, he worked with you until the recipe came out perfect.

Kyotani scares the other parents off when it comes to the silent auction selling the class are projects. Now the shelf you and your kindergarten classmates fingerprinted flowers and bugs on sits proudly in your closet holding crafting supplies.

Ushijima scolds you for leaving the lights on. Most parents do that already, but he takes it to a new extreme. Your mom explains that he would never turn the lights on in his apartment when he was in college and would simply get his homework done before dark. Sometimes, if he had something to do, he would light a candle to finish something up.

Tendou recalls a story in which he stole a bus battery with his buddies to power an air conditioned tent at boy scout camp. He also recalls the year he and his friends tried to build a pool in the wilderness at the same count, only to get caught and reprimanded for it before filling it with water which totally had nothing to do with a camp counselor finding it and having a Vietnam flashback

Goshiki watches anime with you. He always acts like he is uninterested in whatever show is on, but he soon gets super into it and it will be the only thing he talks about for a week.

Kuroo sits at the table with you until 2am working on that math assignment you have been struggling with. You've definitely run out of tears to cry, and had to redo the assignment twice, but he is guiding you through the answers

Yaku isn't a fan of all the pets you and your mom have collected over the years. I mean, in his defense, at one point we had 8 cats an 3 dogs. However, he is also super cuddly with them, always giving them nose boops and belly rubs.

Kenma plays Xbox, Wii, and the ds with you. He doesn't find the bulk of the games you play with him entertaining, but he is willing to run through LEGO Star Wars with you. His personal favorite to play is Mario Kart and he doesn't let you win >:(

Lev is trying to convince the family to let him take the position in Alaska with higher pay. When mom raised the concern that the long winters wouldn't do well for your mental health, his counter argument was, "Yeah, and that sucks, but hear me out. We could have a pet Polar Bear." We didn't move to Alaska

Bokuto was definitely the most enthusiastic dad at the girl scout father daughter dance. He twirled you around in your pretty little JC Penney dress and made sure you two were the center of the dance floor. At one point, he lifted you above his head with each foot in a hand like a cheerleader. Truly terrifying.

Akaashi drives out to the 24-hour pharmacy to pick up some cold medicine when you couldn't sleep due to a stuffy nose. He also checks up on you every hour when you are coughing with some mysterious disease (due to the lack of tests and priority of the high-risk, I will never know if I had Covid when I got sick in late March)

Aone gives you the biggest hug after you get released from the graduation ceremony. He isn't the best with words, so this hug speaks so much to you.

Terushima has been taking you to Mardi Gras in New Orleans since you were a baby. He doesn't care that it's mostly an adult party, he believes that everyone in the family should enjoy a good ol' Mardi Gras

Atsumu carries you on his shoulders all the time when you're small. He just thinks it's the cutest thing.

Osamu makes sure to host a crawfish boil every year. Whether its the neighbors, family, both, or just the household, you can expect some good, spicy crawfish with corn and potatoes whenever he cooks.

Kita teaches you how to drive a stick shift. He's frustrated that you cant move three feet before stalling, but then realizes that the issue was that you were in third gear, not first. He is now impressed that you were even able to start moving at third gear.

Sakusa takes you along with him to work. His job is full of tough men, so when they see him with you in a little blue dress-up tutu and a plastic tiara on your head, their hearts just melt.

[waitimcomingtoo]

Where We Start Again 2

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Synopsis: how do you fake date someone you have real feelings for?

Series Masterlist and Regular Masterlist

Playlist by @tiny-friggin-human

“This is my room.” Peter weakly gestured to his bedroom as you walked through his door. His eyes were immediately drawn to everything he needed to hide as you began to look around. He kicked a pair of boxers into the closet and threw a hoodie over the vials of web fluid on his desk. When he looked up at you, a smile dawned on his lips. You stood out in your mini skirt among his nerdy ambiance, but you didn’t look out of place. You noticed him staring and tucked your hair behind your ear nervously.

“What?” You asked, feeling a little self conscious under his gaze.

“Nothing. I just like looking at you.” His lips moved faster than his brain and he was defenseless to stop the words from coming out. Luckily, you found it sweet and gave him a small smile.

“Star Wars bedsheets?” You nodded towards his unmade bed where tiny green Yoda heads dotted his sheets.

“Those aren’t mine.” He scoffed playfully, watching as you took a seat on his bed. His throat tightened at the thought of your bare legs on his sheets. The skirt he’d fawned over so many times was on his bed right now, and he was beginning to panic.

“Uh huh.” You humored him and ran a hand over his pillow. “They’re very soft. You should thank whoever they belong to for taking care of them.”

“I have your laundry- oh! A female.” May was startled by your presence when she came to Peters open door. Peters eyes widened when he noticed she was holding a few pairs of his boxers in her hands and prayed you didn’t notice too. Unfortunate for Peter, you had manners and got up off his bed to shake Mays hand. You shoot Peter a look when your eyes fell on the pile.

“Hi Mrs. Parker. I’m Y/n.” You said politely as you shook her hand. May looked between you and Peter with a surprised expression.

“Y/n L/n?” She asked and you nodded.

“Yeah, that me.” You told her. Peter looked up at the ceiling, silently cursing God for what was happening in front of him.

“It’s nice to finally meet you. Peters been telling me about you since freshman year. You’re the one with the skirt, right? Oh, you’re wearing it now.” She laughed spritely and handed Peter his boxers. “You were right, Peter. It is a nice skirt. And please, call me May.”

Peter knew a nail in the coffin when he saw one. There was no coming back from what May just said. You were gonna think he was a creep and your fake relationship would end before it began.

At least you sat on his bed, though.

“Thank you, May. It’s from H&M and I hear there’s a sale right now. It kinda matches your nails. They’re so pretty.” You told her and she looked down at her nail color. Peter did a double take between you and May. For some reason, you weren’t running out of his apartment in fear.

You were giving his Aunt shopping tips and nail compliments.

“Oh, wow. It does. And thank you. I just got them done but of course this one didn’t notice.” She gave Peter a pointed look before returning her attention to you. “I think I’ll go check it out. I’ll leave you kids to it.” She winked at Peter before closing the door.

Peter braced himself for an abrupt end to your newfound relationship as you turned around. Instead, you had your arms folded and a surprised smile on your face.

“Have you been talking to your aunt about me?” You put yourself hand over your heart like you couldn’t believe it. Peter opened his mouth to apologize, but decided against it when you didn’t show any signs of disdain.

“However did you know?” He replied sarcastically and got a laugh out of you. So you didn’t want apologies, he thought. You wanted humor. “I hope you know, you just witnessed the most embarrassing moment of my life.”

“Well if I know anything about women, she’s gonna be at H&M for a while. You don’t have to worry about her coming in here to embarrass you and drop off your Scooby Doo boxers.” You picked up a pair from the pile he was holding and dangled it in front of his face. He snatched them away from you and quickly stuffed them in his drawer.

“Give me those. They also aren’t mine.” He lied and you held up your hands in defense.

“I believe you.” You insisted and walked over to his LEGO Ferris Wheel. He joined you, standing next to you in silence for a moment as you admired it.

“Ruh roh.” You muttered and his head snapped to you.

“Hey.” He whined. You leaned into him as you laughed, making his breath hitched in his chest when you touched him

“I’m sorry. How does this thing work?” You returned your attention to the Ferris wheel. Peter took a moment to admire the wonder in your eyes as they trailed over the bricks. He pushed a button on the side and it began to move.

“Effervescent.” You said flatly at the anticlimactic way it worked. Peter watched you fondly as your eyes followed the LEGO man and woman in one of the carts.

“What made you want to come over?” He asked suddenly. “Do you have to do community service or something?”

“No.” You said like it was a crazy thought. “I wanted to hang out with you.”

Peter was taken aback by this answer and thought for sure you were lying. He looked at you skeptically as you watched the Ferris wheel.

“Why?” He asked. “And how has nothing you’ve seen so far made you want to stop hanging out with me? You know, the boxers, the bedsheets, the aunt.”

You leaned against his book self and looked down at your boots as you shrugged.

“The boys in our school show up hung over, smelling like mango juul pods and hotdog water. They sleep through class and pelt spit balls at each other at lunch. And I’m pretty sure half the football team hasn’t made the full transition from monkey to human yet.” You said as you kept your eyes down.

“These are all things I already know.” Peter said when you didn’t answer his question. You looked up at him and shrugged slightly.

“You show up in button downs and cute sweaters, smelling like apple shampoo. The one that can get in your eyes and won’t sting. You pay attention in class and build LEGO desk lamps for the science fair. And you give people your gogurt.” You said timidly. The corners of Peters mouth turned down as he fought a smile, as well as the urge to scream into a pillow.

“Well she packed me an extra one.” He reminded you and you rolled your eyes. You walked away from his bookshelf and over to where he had set the LEGO lamp down.

“Can I help you glue the legos down?” You changed the topic. “It’ll go faster with two people.”

“Sure.” He nodded and joined you at his desk. He took a vial of web fluid from under the hoodie and handed it to you. “Here.”

“What kind of glue is this?” You asked as you examined the vial.

“Oh, uh, I made it myself.” Peter stammered as he pulled up a chair for you. You gave him a grateful smile and took a seat.

“You made your own glue?” You asked him once he sat down next to you at the desk.

“Yes?”

“You’re incredible, Peter.” You shook your head and started glueing pieces down. “Out here making your own glue. Elmer’s is quaking.”

Peter took a moment to collect himself before he started glueing the pieces together. Everytime he thought he did something lame, you liked it. And not only that, you praised him for it. All the things that made him unpopular were the things you seemed to enjoy. He was curious about your intentions and could only hope they were good.

“The fair is this Friday, right?” You peered at him through your lashes as you focused on sticking a piece to the base.

“Yeah, right after school.” He replied, freezing momentarily when your pinky touched his.

“I’ll be there.” You said definitively. He stopped what he was doing and looked at you to see if you were joking, but you looked completely serious.

“You don’t have to. It’ll be really boring.” He said softly but you dismissed him.

“Then I’ll hang out by you the whole time.” YIU said simply. “What kind of fake girlfriend would I be if I wasn’t there to watch my boyfriend win the science fair?”

The tips of Peters ears turned pink when you called him your boyfriend. As much as he’d love to have you cheering him on at the science fair, he didn’t want to make you do something you didn’t want to do. He was about to insist that you didn’t have to go when he stopped himself. Something about all the impossible things that had happened today made him want to go against his normal behavior.

“It’s every boys dream to have his fake girlfriend watching him awkwardly tell judges about his science fair project.” He said instead of telling you you didn’t have to come. You seemed like you wanted to, and he’d love to have you there. Why not let it happen?

“I know, right? How’d you get so lucky?” You tossed your hair off your shoulder and winked at him. Peter has gone from never speaking to you to you winking at him three times in one day. You were right. How did he get so lucky?

“Are you sure about committing to this whole fake dating thing? If you’re at the science fair with me, more people are gonna know. It won’t just be between you and me and Flash anymore.” Peter warned you. You stopped glueing legos and looked at him.

“I am sure. I want to do this. It’s just until the dance right? I can dedicate two weeks of my life to mess with Flash.” You insisted as you put your hand on top of his. He tensed up so you quickly drew it away and cleared your throat. “We should probably come up with nicknames for each other to really sell it. What do you want to be called?”

Still recovering from the hand holding incident, his mind was blank.

“You pick.” He said blankly.

“Thank God. I thought you were gonna say “my lord” or some shit.” You laughed and went back to glueing. “How about baby? Nice and simple.”

“Sounds good.” He smiled shyly. He wasn’t even on your radar this morning and now you were calling him baby.

“What do you want to call me?” You asked. The hope in your eyes made Peter determined not to disappoint you.

“Daisy.” He said confidently. You raised your eyebrows at his quick response.

“You had that prepared.” You remarked and he rubbed the back of his neck.

“I see you drawing daisies on your notes all the time.” He admitted. “And then you color the center with yellow highlighter. It’s cute.”

“Good eye, baby.” You emphasized the pet name for effect.

“I just have a good view, daisy.” He did the same. You pulled your tongue between your teeth and giggled. The sight of it made Peters knees weaken as he glued on the final piece.

“You should give me one of your shirts or something so I can wear it to school.” You said as you got out of your chair. “Do you have anything that says your last name on the back?”

Peter got up from the desk and dug around in his closet for his decathlon hoodie. He made sure not to touch the area where his suit was hidden.

“Would this work?” He asked as he held it out to you. You traced your fingers over the bold white block letters and smiled.

“That’s perfect. And here.” You slipped your scrunchie off your wrist and gave it to him. “Wear this on your wrist. I wear it a lot so people will know it’s mine.”

Peter put it on his wrist and thought of all the times he’d seen you wearing it. He loved it when you wore your hair up. And down. He loved it all.

But so did the rest of his school.

Guilt bubbled in the pit of his tummy at the thought of what the fake relationship could do to your reputation.

“You really don’t have to do this, Y/n.” He said softly. “You’re committing social suicide.”

“That’s not a thing.” You stated as you tied his hoodie around your waist. “And I told you, I’m happy to do this. Flash needed to be put in his place. I always hear him picking on you over nothing.”

“Yeah. He’s a real piece of work.” Peter shoved his hands in his pockets and blew out a breath.

“You pronounce “dick head” funny.” You smirked. “Why do you let him get away with what he says to you? How do you resist the urge to punch him in the face?”

“He’s not worth.” Peter shrugged. “I want to get out of here and go to a good college. I’m kinda depending on scholarships and I hear schools prefer kids who don’t get into physical fights with other students.”

“Well you’re very patient.” You complimented him as you stepped closer. “I see him beating up on you all the time.”

“Are you stalking me?” He teased and you shoved his shoulder.

“Says the boy who tells his aunt about my mini skirts.” You shot back before pulling your bottom lip between your teeth.

“Touché.” He squinted at you. “You know, you could’ve just told him to back off. Now you’re stuck pretending to be my girlfriend.”

“Would you stop?” You pouted as you sat back down on his bed. “I don’t feel stuck. I think this is gonna be fun.”

“Not that I’m not enjoying looking at legos with you, but wouldn’t you rather be spending your time with your actual friends? Not your fake boyfriend?” He asked as he took a seat beside you. You took a rubix cube off his nightstand and toyed with it, solving it almost immediately.

“Wanna know a secret?” You asked him as you handed him the solved rubix cube.

“Tell me.” He urged.

“I hate those people.” You laughed sadly. “All of them. Everyone who cares more about what brand you’re wearing than how your day was. I don’t think I’ve ever had an intelligent conversation with any of my “friends”.”

“Then why do you hang out with them? And how was your day?” He added to make you laugh.

“It’s a lot better now.” You said as you drew your knees up to your chin. You had shed your boots at some point and Peter could see your mismatched socks. “And I hang out with them because they count on me to. I don’t know when I became the cult leader around here but now they don’t leave me alone. It’s like, you have to be at this party and you have to wear a dress by this brand unless you got it from this store because that’s cheap. And you must wear your hair this way and drink this alcohol and know this song. It’s exhausting. That glue smells like flint stones vitamins, by the way. It’s all over my hands.”

“I didn’t realize being popular was so trifling.” Peter replied as he reached for a bottle of web dissolver (disguised as hand sanitizer) on his desk and offered it to you. You held out your hands and he squirt some in.

“I know how it sounds.” You said lowly. “I know that people would kill to have my status. But no one in my circle is happy. They’re running on 10 shots of expresso and fake smiles.”

Peter took what you said into consideration as he watched the solemn expression on your face.

“Are you unhappy?” He realized. You had said no one in your circle was happy, and he worried that included you.

“Sometimes. A lot of the time, actually.” You admitted and his heart sank. “I know it looks like I have a lot of friends, but I don’t have a single one. Not one who cares about me or checks on how I’m doing, anyway. I would give up my dozens of fake friends for one real one.”

You kept your eyes down as you spoke to hide your emotions, but Peter couldn’t ignore it. He tried to redeem himself from earlier by putting his hand over yours.

“I care about you.” He promised. “And I may be your fake boyfriend, but I’m your real friend…friend.”

You gave Peter a half smile and flipped your hand so you were holding his instead of just under it.

“You know, this is the first time I’ve done something after school that I actually enjoyed.” You told him.

“We could hang out more, if you want.” He suggested, not thinking you’d actually say yes.

“Yeah, totally.” You agreed, much to his surprise. Your smile seemed different to him, more genuine.

“To convince Flash, I mean.” He added quickly. Your face faltered a little and you took your hand away from his.

“Right.” You gave him a tight smile. “Flash.”

~

“I need to talk to you.” Peter whispered harshly the next morning when he found Ned at his locker.

“Is this about you walking home with Y/n? Everyone’s talking about it. People are saying you took her to an alley and killed her.” Ned recanted the rumors he heard with excitement.

“What? I didn’t kill her.” Peter defended. “She wanted to come over to see my legos.”

“Oh wow. And I had Tia and Tamera over to bake me a loaf of bread.” Ned said seriously.

“I’m being serious, Ned.” Peter sighed. “Flash was making fun of me and she just-“

“Peter!”

As soon as Peter turned around, you jumped into his arms and wrapped your legs around his waist. He quickly wrapped an arm around you to keep you from falling as you hugged him tightly. When you let go, he could see you were wearing his hoodie over a jean skirt. It reminded of of his sleepless night as he couldn’t get over the fact that his bedsheets now smelled like you. He tossed and turned all night with a smile on his face, too giddy to go to sleep. He didn’t even care when he heard the birds chirping, signaling that he had never fallen asleep. Nothing could break his smile.

“Good morning, baby.” You cooed as you kept your arms around his neck.

“Baby?” Ned sputtered. “Big confused.”

“Haven’t you heard? Peter and I are dating.” You smiled brightly as you linked your arm through Peters. A huge grin broke out on his face at your display of affection as Ned’s eyes bulged out of his head.

“Fake dating.” He said to calm his friend down.

“Semantics.” You replied quickly. “If anyone asks, we’re together.”

“That’s what I was trying to tell you.” Peter explained when Ned still looked shocked.

“Look! I’m wearing your hoodie.” You pulled the hoodie forward so Peter could see.

“And I have your small headband.” Peter held up his wrist to show you where the scrunchie was.

“It’s called a scrunchie.” You giggled. You took his hand and held it to your chest. “We look so convincing. Ned, don’t we look like a couple?”

“I’m having network connectivity problems.” Ned mumbled as he struggled to understand what was going on.

“Wait. I forgot I have to talk to the student council about the dance decorations.” You remembered. “See you at lunch?”

“Have a good day, s-sweetheart.” He stuttered out a new nickname he had always wanted to call you.

“Sweetheart? I like it.” You twirled yourself under his arm before walking away. “Shaking things up.”

Peter and Ned watched you walk away, Ned with his jaw slacked and Peter with his eyes soft.

“Dude.” Ned breathed.

“I know.”

“You have a fake girlfriend.” Ned said in disbelief. “And it’s Y/n.”

“I know.”

“You’ve been in love with her for years.” He whispered.

“I know.”

“She is way out of your league.” He looked at his friend.

“I know!” Peter exclaimed. “Do you think people are gonna buy it?”

“I don’t know.” Ned answered honestly. “Why did she agree to this? You didn’t try to kill her in an alley did you?”

“No, Ned. This was all her idea. She asked for my hoodie and gave me this little skirt for your hair.” Peter held up with wrist with the scrunchie again.

“It’s called a munchie, Peter.” Ned rolled his eyes.

“Well she gave me hers so people would know she’s my girlfriend. Or fake girlfriend. I don’t really know the details.” He sighed but broke into another smile. “She came over yesterday and God, she’s so much better than we thought. She’s funny and a good listener and everytime I thought I did something lame, she liked it. She liked me! This might be the greatest thing that ever happened to me, Ned.”

“But is this really what you want? You’ve liked her since the first day of school when her dad almost hit you with her car and she started crying.” Ned reminded him. “Do you really want your first relationship with a girl, especially this girl, to be fake?”

“MJ was right, Ned. A girl like that will never be interested in someone like me. This is the only chance I’m gonna have with her. And yeah, it’s a fake relationship. But it’s a real friendship. I’ll take what I can get if it means I can be close to her.” Peter decided.

“I don’t want you getting hurt, Peter. If this ends badly, it’ll crush you.” Ned said sincerely.

“I know what this. I know she’ll never actually like me. As long as I keep reminding myself that, I’ll be fine.” Peter insisted.

“Okay.” Ned patted his back. “If you say so.”

“Don’t-“

“Didn’t even notice. No punches there to roll with.” Ned began to sing as he walked down the hall. Peter kept his distance as he followed him to class, already thinking about the next time he’d get to see you.

~

Peter waited a lifetime for the lunch bell to ring. The best parts of his day were when he got to see you. Those parts were the morning if he got to his locker on time, lunch, 7th period, and after school when you had Volunteer Club. They met right across the hall from the Decathlon team and of Peter angled his chair correctly, he could catch a glimpse of you.

He kept his head up as he headed to his table, always on the lookout for you. He spotted his hoodie a few seconds before you made eye contact.

“There you are, baby.” Your eyes lit up as you made your way over to him. “Come on. Let’s eat together.”

Peters heartbeat quickened as you lead him towards your usual lunch table. It was already full of popular kids, the very popular kids that Peter feared.

“Your friends won’t like me.” Peter protested to save himself from 40 minutes of torture.

“No one at that table likes each other, Peter.” You laughed but he sensed a sadness in your voice. “Let’s sit with your friends then.”

You pivoted away from the cool kids table, earning yourself a glare from every inhabitant. It struck fear in Peters heart, but it didn’t phase you. You linked your arm through his again and led him towards Ned and MJ’s table.

“Are you sure?” Peter asked nervously as he made eye contact with an angry quarterback.

“Yes. Come on.” You tugged him harder until you got to the table.

“Hey guys.” You greeted Ned and MJ as you sat down. Ned looked up in shock and the water he was drinking fell out of his mouth.

“Girl?” He asked Peter, reverting to his inability to speak around you.

“Yes, girl.” You chuckled. “Come sit with us, Michelle.”

“Fine, but only because this cannot end well.” MJ picked you her stuff and slid next to you. You handed her her daily granola bar and she took it with a sly smirk.

“Flash is coming.” Ned whispered and you quickly took Peters hand. You leaned your head on your other hand and stared at him with a dreamy smile as Flash walked by. He shot you guys a look and pretended to gag before walking away.

“He totally bought it.” You squealed as you watched him sit down. “We are so good together.”

Peter nodded stiffly, his full attention on the fact that you were still holding his hand.

“Are you in the science fair too, Ned?” You changed the subject but began to trace patterns on Peters palm. It took him a moment to realize you were drawing daisies.

“No. I’m not.” Ned replied and everyone perked up.

“He just said a full sentence.” MJ realized.

“Yay!” You released Peters hand to clap softly. His hand felt cold without yours holding it and he felt disappointment sink in. He thought he’d be okay as long as he reminded himself that the relationship was fake, but he wasn’t. He wanted to hold your hand all the time, not just when Flash was around.

“Why not?” You asked as you opened up your lunch bag.

“I usually just hang out by the snack table until Peter wins. Then we go to Delmars and order a sandwich with every single ingredient on it.” He explained. “It wasn’t that bad until they added tuna to the menu. Tuna really doesn’t go with peanut butter and hot sauce.”

“Haha, he’s kidding.” Peter lies and shot Ned a look. “We don’t do that. That would be absurd.”

“I have this really strong feeling that you do do that-“

“Do do.” Ned chuckled.

“-and it sounds fun. Is it cool if I tag along this year?” You asked Peter, slipping your hand back into his. Peter looked at your intertwined hands before looking to Ned for approval.

“Girl welcome.” He nodded until he realized he was doing it again. “Damn it.”

“Of course you can come.” Peter made the decision when Ned was no help. “But I have to win first.”

“I’ve seen your picture in the display case the last three years. Come on, you had the robotics arm, the homemade spinneret, and the thing with the flies.” You surprised Peter by listing his lady entries. “This solar powered LEGO lamp is gonna blow the judges away. You’re gonna win. My boyfriend is the smartest guy in school.” You gloated as you moved some hair off Peters forehead.

“You know your don’t have to call him your boyfriend around us, right? We’re not the ones you’re trying to fool.” MJ cut in. Peters has tightened at MJ’s interruption.

“I know.” You said timidly and took your hand away from Peter again. He huffed out an angry breath but kept his mouth shut. If you could take his hand, he could take yours.

“She can do what she wants.” Peter said decidedly and laced his fingers through yours. You smiled proudly at him and squeezed his hand.

“Thank you, baby.” You said, happy he was taking initiative. “What are you doing after school today?”

“You’re in luck, Y/n. You chose the best possible boy to fake date. His schedule has been open for the last 18 years.” MJ jeered.

“Haha. Don’t you have a chicken to ritualistically sacrifice or something?” Peter shot back.

“Ooo. Witch joke. Original.” She whispered and twiddled her fingers like she was casting a spell.

“I’m not busy, daisy.” He ignored MJ and kept his eyes on you. “What did you have in mind?”

“I’ve been so busy planning the dance that I never got a dress.” You told him. “Would you come with me to pick one out?”

“Do I want to spend my afternoon watching you try on dresses?” He repeated your question back to you and you realized how boring it sounded.

“You don’t have to-“ You began.

“Hell yeah I do.” He cut you off and you smiled. “Where do you want to meet?”

“If you walk me home after school we can go from there.” You suggested. Peters mouth dried out at the thought of going to your house but he forced himself to nod.

“Okay.” He squealed.

“Shoot, I almost forgot. I have to meet with Mrs. Carlisle about the DJ.” You packed up your lunch and cupped Peters chin. “I’ll see you later?”

“I’ll be at your locker.” He nodded as your thumb slid off his chin.

“Good boy.” You smirked. “Bye Ned. Bye Michelle.”

Ned waited until you were out of sight until he freaked out.

“Dude! She invited you to her house! She totally wants to jump your bones.” He whispered loudly.

“Why would she jump on my bones? Like my skeleton?” Peter asked innocently. “You think she want to kill me?”

“How is the hottest girl in school interested in you?” MJ shook her head. “Especially when you ask questions like that.”

“Shes not into me. We’re fake dating.” Peter reminded them.

“And who’s idea was it to do that?” MJ cocked her head. “Because she called me yesterday to tell me all about your little plan.”

“Yesterday you were saying I’d never have a chance, and today you’re insisting that she’s into me?” Peter asked in confusion. “Wait, she called you? About me?”

“I hadn’t seen you interact before yesterday. She was doing girlfriend shit when no one was watching. Not even you! Check your notebook.” MJ grumbled and angrily took a bite out of her granola bar. Peter curiously opened his notebook and found a pink slip of paper inside. He opened it up and read it out loud.

“This is my favorite color on you. Have some sweet tarts, for my sweetheart. See you after school.” He read the note and held up a fun sized packet of Sweet Tarts.

“She put that in there when you were too busy staring at the jocks.” MJ told them. “Now tell me, why would she sneak candy into your notebook entirely out of Flash’s view? Who does that convince?”

“I love sweet tarts.” Peter muttered as he stared at the note. Even your handwriting was pretty.

“Everyone knows that. Remember when you had to go to the nurse freshman year on Valentine’s Day because you ate 18 packets?” Ned brought up.

“I don’t remember that.” Peter mumbled, trying to think of what Ned was talking about.

“Because you were sent home for going into a sugar coma.” MJ snorted.

“Wow.” Peter raised his eyebrows. “I never knew that.”

“Well she did. And now she’s sneaking you candy.” MJ said and laughed in disbelief.

“What’s so funny?” Peter laughed defensively.

“I think Y/n actually likes you. And I think that hilariously paradoxical.” She laughed again.

“What? No.” Peter didn’t allow himself to have hope, even for a minute. “She doesn’t like me. She’s just faking.”

“You’re going to her house today right?” MJ raised a single eyebrow. “See how she behaves. If you acts like your girlfriend when no one is around, you’ll know she isn’t faking.”

“Okay.” Peter decided, figuring he had nothing to lose. “Okay. I’ll do that.”

~

Peter stationed himself at your locker directly after school. He kept MJ’s advice at the front of his mind as he waited for you to arrive. All he had to do was observe you. He did that all the time anyway. Only this time, it counted. He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans and let out a breath.

“Baby.” He heard your sweet voice from behind him. He turned around and saw your equally sweet smile.

“Ready?” He asked as he took the books from your hands. You gave him a puzzled look and he explained. “I’m carrying your books for you. My uncle told me to do this when I got a girlfriend. I figured he’d still appreciate it, even if our relationship is fake.”

“He sounds like a smart man.” You said kindly and Peter nodded.

“He was. I’ll tell you more about him on the walk.” He offered and you smiled like you liked the idea. “Lead the way.”

Tag List 🏷

@a-villain-vying-for-attention​ @wendaiix3-blog​ @dorbiksbitch​ @t-monosapiens-h​ @badhollandfluff​ @silteplaittais-toi​ @thisisthebiplace​​ @seasidecrowbar​​ @spideygirl2003 @5-seconds-of-mendes @bitchylittleredhead @oh-whatabeautiful-parker @everydaymj @write-from-the-heart @blackpetalsmeandeath @electraheart-3174 @shawni-h @peterparkoure

[draculaurafangz]

swim good / p. parker

a/n: honestly i did not plan on posting anything but i had to get this out of my drafts because, it’s been there for a while. anyways, this was based off of frank ocean’s song “swim good”. if you’ve ever listened to the song then you’d definitely know what i’m getting at with this. also, you guys can imagine the reader to look however you want, it’s not limited to like one specific image.

warnings: there’s like, a whole lotta angst, there’s curses here & there, and mentions of smut (not really but it’s kinda there, if you read you understand. lmao i don’t like writing smut at all.) also peter’s aged up 18 in this story & in college.

─ ─ ─

peter parker was very popular at your school. not only was it because of the fact that the whole entire school knew he was spiderman, but it was because he was known for sleeping around with girls on campus. thinking back on it, peter doesn’t even remember how it happened. one minute he was this nerdy, awkward teenager who always read his comic books and put together star wars lego sets, and here he is now messing around with girls and tugging at their heartstrings.

at first, he was obsessed with the idea of being this chick magnet. he lived with the pride, no matter how many girls he had lead on and given false hope to.

but now, he’s not so sure.

he’s realized he’s caused other girls around the school, and even in queens, a ton of pain. but most importantly, he had hurt you a great deal. to the point where you had left voicemails, telling him you wished you’d never see him again, and that you regret anything you ever did with him.

peter doesn’t regret it, he actually felt some sort of feeling towards you. out of all the other friday night hookups, you were different. your aura and your presence was just unmatched to those other girls. of course, you cursed yourself for ever sleeping with him because you knew about his reputation. but when you know you had the opportunity you had to take it. you thought you would be able to convince him and change his mind, but it was no use.

so here peter is on a friday night, sitting in his room all by himself, no hookup present. he missed you. god, he missed you so fucking much. he knew you wouldn’t talk to him if he just messaged you or even left a voicemail. he couldn’t bring himself to even think about the last conversation the two of you had because he hated seeing your face. you were broken and in pain. tears streaming down your face as your voice boomed within the room. saying that he was an asshole, and you thought you could actually change him but there was no point in changing him.

little did you know, you did change peter. you changed him a lot, to the point where you caused him to think about his past. there were some girls that honestly treated his hookups the way they were, and some actually cared but soon after got over it. then there were some like you who had been extremely heartbroken. peter never really paid attention to them though because they always made it their mission to ignore him.

it’s not that you didn’t ignore peter, because you did. you just didn’t talk to him at random anymore. he was in a couple of your classes, and would sometimes ask for notes. but other times, he’d just bump into you on campus. so yeah, you were ignoring him. with no intention of talking to him.

he felt so much pain over the past couple of days, thinking about he hurt other girls, thinking about how he hurt you. he cannot stop thinking about you, at this point he’s in love with you. he’s so guilt-ridden that even ned notices something is off with him.

“are you sure you’re okay? you just haven’t been yourself lately,” ned questioned just noticing that his friend seemed to always be disturbed.

“it’s nothing ned,” is what he’d usually respond with “i’m just stressed with my classes right now.”

ned shook his head understandingly. he knew that college for sure was hard on him and couldn’t even imagine how hard it was on peter. peter never told ned about everything, ned was three states away from peter. there was nothing ned could do to fix this, as peter realized he needed to fix everything himself.

his professors even noticed it. some of them even had to speak with him after class letting him know his grade was in great jeopardy. when they asked if everything okay, peter just explained that he had been off recently. he assured them that he’d be back on track soon, and get on top of his academics as well. after speaking with his physics professor he had headed towards your dorm. he never actually went to visit you at your dorm so he had no clue what room was yours. he’d remember swinging by your window, but never got an exact numbered door. when he walked into the main lobby, he asked some random girl if she knew who you were or where your dorm was. luckily for him, he actually bumped into your roomate, but your roomate refused to talk to him.

“i know who you are, and i think you should go,” she coldly spoke.

he pleaded with her and he promised he would make everything right with you if he could actually see you and get the chance to talk to you. after hearing his long ramble about his overdue apology, your roomate caved him and gave him your room number.

he felt anxiety rushing throughout his entire body as he looked through the hallways of numbered doors and finally spotted yours. he took a deep breath before knocking, reminding himself that he was going to be okay, this was going to be okay.

you opened the door and immediately slammed it in his face. behind the door, your eyes went wide and you bit your bottom lip as you thought about opening the door again. what could he have possibly wanted? what was he doing here? had he been stalking you? how the fuck did he find you room? your mind went back to the main question: what does he want and why is he here?

you turned around again facing your door and wiped your sweaty palms against your sweatpants. opening your door, you made a joke about how it was too early for a booty call. peter’s face remained straight seeming to just be unamused with the joke. you then asked what he had wanted. how this was all unlike him and how he truly he doesn’t chase but rather attract.

“y/n, just please hear me out. give me five minutes, two minutes even. i just need to talk to you,” he started.

you gulped, the big lump in your throat returning as you whispered a “come in” to him.

he sat on the edge of your bed as you stood in the middle of your room. your arms were crossed and you had a blank look on your face.

“i- i just wanted to say i’m sorry,” he stuttered, “i regret ever hurting you, y/n. i think back about how i ruined everything between us daily. usually i don’t let feelings get in the way of this but holy shit i cannot even deny them anymore. and that’s why i came here. i know i’ve given you so much stress lately and i truly apologize. i know i hurt you at night and i can’t even sleep sometimes knowing that i hurt you. i need to make things right. i’m not asking for anything major, i just want to be on good terms again with you,” he finished, averting his eyes away from yours.

you took his words in, thinking them over as you stared back at his features. you didn’t hate him, as a matter of fact you were head over heels in love with him. but you couldn’t do it. you could not be in a relationship right now, but you weren’t going to just dismiss the way he wanted to mend things between the two of you.

the two of you sat in silence for another minute as you collected your thoughts, him waiting patiently for you. you walked over to him and just hugged him. you already felt tears well up in your eyes but did not want them to spill. peter at this point was full on crying. this was the closure you both needed. you whispered in his ear how you don’t want a relationship right now, but he understood because he didn’t know if he was able to take on one by himself right now. as the two of you pulled apart, you wiped your eyes as you gave peter time to collect himself.

“i’m down to fix things. i love you a lot pete but we need to work on ourselves and our own dynamic before we even think about jumping into that whole relationship stage,” you said.

“and i’m totally okay with that. i can deal with that. i was just scared of losing you,” his eyes glossed over again as he said that. new tears were forming in his eyes.

you’d never thought you’d see the day where peter parker was actually showing some emotion. he seemed like the type to be emotionless after you had your experience with him.

it was going to take a while to heal, but you both had each other so there was no fear. peter was going to be more open and honest with his feelings. he was sorry, he was taking the accountability he should’ve taken a long time ago. he had you to thank for that.

i’m goin off (oh, my pretty love)

don’t try stopping me

i’m goin off (throw me in a line)

don’t try saving (you broke my heart)

no flares (you broke my heart)

no vest (you drove my love)

and no fear

waves are washin’ me out.

[madasthesea]

“What is a Build-a-Bear?” Nebula's rasping voice framed the words like they were a foreign language, careful and slow.

Tony blinked at her. He was still in the Medbay, slowly recovering from starvation, oxygen deprivation, and the last of his stab wound. The time between getting off the ship and waking up here was blurry. Nebula, who had suffered from hunger much less than Tony, had come to visit him while Captain Danvers and the raccoon prepared their ship to go find Thanos.

“What?” he croaked.

“You called Rocket a Build-a-Bear.”

He didn't remember doing that, but it sounded like him.

“Oh. It's a stuffed animal,” Tony explained listlessly, picking at his blanket. “It's for kids.”

 Peter's room was a mishmash of Lego figurines, science apparatus, and second-hand furniture. Tony glanced around, taking it in. The last time he'd been here recruiting the kid, the space had been much more bare. He smirked as he saw the Star Wars spaceships, but it turned into a wicked grin when he caught sight of a red and gold stuffed animal.

“Kid, what is that?”

Peter looked around from where he'd been rummaging in his desk for his spare webshooter. He saw where Tony was looking and his cheeks immediately flushed.

“Um. A… birthday present.”

Tony reached out and picked it up. The little bear had gold Iron Man masks all over his crimson fur and was wearing a shirt and pants that looked like the Iron Man armor, complete with a tiny glowing arc reactor and a cloth mask.

“It looks new,” he remarked casually.

“It isn't!” Peter hurriedly assured him, rushing over and trying to snag it from Tony's hands. Tony pulled it closer to his chest, raising an eyebrow at Peter.

“Don't get grabby, Parker,” he chided. “Now, come here, we're taking a selfie.”

“You give these slain creatures to your children?” Nebula asked. Her voice and face were as emotionless as ever, but there was something like disgust in the tilt of her head.

Tony, jerked out of his thoughts, took a second to catch up.

“What? No! Geez, no. They're not real animals, they're made of cloth.”

“Cloth,” Nebula repeated, sounding dubious.

“Yeah.” He hesitated for a second. “Come here, I'll show you.”

He reached over to the bedside table, where he'd slammed his phone down half a second after Rhodey gave it to him. He'd taken a single glance at the lock screen photo—one of Peter with engine grease all over his face, the car he and Tony had restored together barely visible in the background—and promptly hyperventilated until he passed out. He hadn't touched the phone since, and his hands shook as he reached for it now.

He swallowed hard, unlocking his phone and carefully not looking at his background picture—this one of him, Peter, and Pepper all asleep on the couch. He opened his camera gallery and quickly scrolled through the file of photos of Peter, trying not to see any of them, any of the hundreds of memories that would forever more be nothing but agonizing reminders of his own failure.

He overshot the one he was looking for and had to go back, but finally he pulled up a picture of Peter's Iron Man Build-a-Bear, his own hand holding it up to the camera.

Nebula crowded around the head of the bed, peering down at the screen. She looked at it critically for a second, glancing between it and Tony.

“What is it's function?” She finally asked.

“Kids cuddle with them,” Tony replied. She looked confused. “You know, hug them?”

Nebula shook her head.

“Oh geez. Um. Like, like this.” Finger hesitating for a second, Tony swiped to the next picture. His breath stuttered in his lungs.

Beaming up at him from the screen was the ghost of Peter Parker, bright and young and perfect. The teddy bear was tucked under his chin and his cheeks still faintly pink with embarrassment. Tony had had to make a really stupid “dad joke" to even get Peter to smile. In the picture they'd taken together, Peter was mid eye-roll.

Tony's thumb hovered over the image as if about to caress the boy's face. He could feel Nebula looking at him, knew she recognized Peter as the kid that had died in Tony's arms. And even if she hadn’t, she still would have known—she was the one that had heard him screaming Peter’s name in his sleep, whispering apologies to the Peter he hallucinated once the infection took hold.

“Why do they… cuddle them?” Nebula made a face at the word and Tony snorted, still staring at his screen.

“Us humans do that. We, um, need physical contact.”

  Tony woke up to the hazy awareness that came with heavy medication. He remembered the entire fight, this time, and groaned quietly. His injuries would take forever to heal, his busted knee would probably ache for the rest of his life. Getting old sucked. But taking the brunt of the damage was worth it as long Peter got to grow old, too.

Speaking of Peter, Tony felt a suspiciously Peter-shaped weight against his side. He peeled an eye open and, sure enough, Peter was tucked up against him, his arm over Tony's stomach.

“Kid,” Tony groaned. Peter looked up at him, a nasty bruise on his temple.

“Mr. Stark.”

“What are you doing here?” Tony asked, fighting the pull of medication trying to make him fall asleep again.

“Human contact helps dull pain,” Peter told him. He pressed himself a little closer. “Is it working?”

“Better than morphine,” Tony said drily. Peter made an aggravated noise at his sarcasm.

“I'm trying to help,” Peter whispered.

Tony sighed, shifting a little so that Peter's head was nestled more comfortably against his shoulder.

“You know you don't have to feel guilty, buddy. You really don't.”

“And you know that I do anyway, so just let me…” Peter trailed off.

“Let you cuddle me?”

Peter nodded shyly.

“It's the only thing I can do for you right now.”

Tony closed his eyes. This kid.

“Eases pain, you say?”

“And helps you sleep,” Peter added, his own words getting thicker as he started to doze against Tony’s chest.

Tony ducked his head and lightly kissed Peter's bruised temple.

“Well, heaven knows I could use some of that.”

 Tony jerked himself out of his own thoughts this time. The picture of Peter was blurry now, and Tony blinked hurriedly to dispel the tears.

“Do you… don’t alien kids have something like that?” he asked.

Nebula's dark eyes stared at him for a long moment.

“I don't know.”

Right. Suckiest dad in the universe.

“Tell you what, when I'm up and moving again, and you're back from your space adventure, we'll go get you one.”

Nebula worked her jaw for a moment, like she was going to argue, but her eyes betrayed curiosity and a little bit of excitement in her gaze.

“Fine.”

  Marching up to a Build-a-Bear after the end of the world with an ex-homicidal blue alien was pretty high up on Tony's list of ‘weirdest things I’ve ever done,’ but he glared at the shop attendant that cowered behind the counter as if it was totally normal.

He'd been a little surprised the place was still open, actually. Plenty of stores had had to close their doors after the Snap, too short staffed or without managers and owners.

This was the same store he'd come to with Peter. It still smelled the same. The memory punched the air out of his lungs.

  “Keep your eyes closed, Pete.”

Peter scowled. “Mr. Stark, people are giving us weird looks. I can feel it.”

“Chill out. Just a couple more seconds.” With both hands on Peter's shoulders, Tony steered them through the brightly lit store, around little kids and stands with tiny clothes hanging on little cardboard hangers. When they reached the right spot, Tony reached out tipped Peter's chin down so that he'd see the surprise right when he opened his eyes. The kid didn’t even flinch at the unexpected touch and Tony’s lungs constricted at the trust Peter put in him.

“Alright, kiddo. Go ahead.”

Peter opened his eyes.

“No way…”

There, at the end of the line of Avengers themed teddy bears, was a red plush with spider web patterns all over it. It was wearing a replica of the Spider-Man suit and had a mask shoved up on it's head, smushing the ears.

“Congrats, kid, you've joined the ‘recognizable enough to make a profit’ league,” Tony laughed, both hands still on Peter's shoulders.

“Oh my gosh!” Peter picked up the stuffed animal, running his fingers over it. He tugged the mask over the bear’s face.

“Looks just like you, Pete,” Tony joked, grinning widely. Peter gave his arm a soft whack.

“This is amazing. I have to take a picture and show Ned. He’ll freak,” Peter rambled, fishing for his phone in his pocket.

“Or you could just show him in person.”

“It’s a bit far to come—” Peter started, looking around at the store with a furrow between his eyebrows.

“I’m obviously going to buy you one, kid,” Tony interrupted, rolling his eyes. “To add to your collection.”

Peter blushed. “Mr. Stark.”

“After all, you can’t have Iron Man without his loyal sidekick Spider-Man, can you?”

Peter pursed his lips, but there was something soft and awed in his face, like being Iron Man’s sidekick was a dream come true. “Not your sidekick, Mr. Stark.”

“I know, kiddo,” Tony assured him, ruffling his hair. “Now, come on, show me how this works.”

Twenty minutes later, they were leaving with a new teddy bear, the little pseudo-birth certificate that came with reading ‘Underroos.’

“Your face is leaking.” Nebula’s voice startled him so badly he flinched. His hands flew up to his face, wiping away the tears on his cheeks.

“Right. Sorry.” Nebula didn’t say anything. It was one of the best things about her.

“What do I do?” she asked, a little quieter as if embarrassed to not know.

“Just pick one you like,” Tony said shrugging, walking around the store and peering at each bin full of animals waiting to be stuffed. Nebula trailed along behind him, examining them as if wary they would come alive and bite her.

When they came to the Avengers ones, Tony paused. The Spider-Man bear was still there, the crate almost empty. The only ones that seemed more popular were Iron Man and Captain America. Tony smiled a bit. Peter would flip if he knew he’d beaten out Thor.

“That’s your son,” Nebula remarked, a touch surprised.

Tony swallowed, looking at the little plushie. He decided not to correct her. “Yeah. He, uh, he’s pretty popular, here on Earth.”

Nebula stooped and picked out a Spider-Man bear. “I like this one,” she proclaimed, with a confidence that surprised Tony. She’d never expressed real preference or dislike for anything before.

Tony cleared his throat. “You... you don’t have to get that one, just cause it’s—You don’t have to get that one for me.”

“I like this one,” she said again.

“Alright, Bluebell.” She glanced up at him at the nickname. “Let’s go get you your very first stuffed animal.”

After the bear had been stuffed, the little heart placed inside—Nebula had been very confused at that part—and closed up, the worker left them to pick out clothes and whatever else they wanted. Nebula looked at the bear in her hands for a long moment, and then raised it and tucked it under her chin, mimicking what she had seen Peter doing in the picture Tony had showed her. Tony watched, one eyebrow raised, as she stood like that for a long moment, eyes closed.

When she opened her eyes, she looked at Tony.

“I see,” she said simply. Tony smiled.

  Two weeks later, as she and Rocket boarded their ship to leave Earth, Nebula had her little Spider-Man bear—decked out in an Iron Man outfit, at her insistence—under her arm.

[themetaphorgirl]

I asked for cute and cuddly things so I could write something adorable!! I tried to combine as many as possible!

@therestisconfettis​ : “the psolc babies making a pillow fort!!”

@birds-are-better-than-you​ : “My brain immediately goes to people actually listening to him talk instead of cutting him off, but thats just rooted in sadness”

@fragolinaa​ : “I just want people cuddling him, maybe someone who hasn't yet like Emily or Dave?”

@purpleturtle31extra : “Spending an off day exploring music together! Like showing him songs that remind you of him or a certain memory..”

anonymous: “cute cuddly idea: u mentioned Emily and Dave getting Spencer legos. Write a little thing of a rainy day or whatever and everyone’s just chilling building random shit with legos and then there’s gonna be Spencer actually building something with proper ratios and actual potential urban planning and everyone else is just like “hmm... I have built something vaguely resembling a plane”

anonymous: “omg cuddly mom alex?? maybe spencer napping with her and he has a nightmare??”

I hope I touched on everything!! I think I captured at least a little bit of everything!!!

----------

“Hey,” Emily said. “Are you feeling okay?”

Spencer dragged his fork around his plate, his chin resting heavily in his hand. “I’m not hungry,” he said dully.

“This is your last day to eat whatever you want,” she pointed out. “Go get something sugary. Donuts or something.”

He shrugged, and she bit back a sigh. Everyone else had left on Wednesday afternoon to spend Thanksgiving break with their respective families- literally everyone, even Hotch- and while they’d had a nice Thanksgiving at James’s house, and she was enjoying having her room all to herself, she and Spencer had been left behind, and the kid was moping like it was his job. She was starting to figure out that while he liked doing things on his own, he needed the security of knowing that everyone else was nearby.

“I guess I’ll go get some chocolate milk or something,” Spencer sighed, sliding down from his chair. 

“See? There you go,” she said. “Treat yourself.”

As soon as he slid down from his chair and trudged away she pulled out her phone.

the cause of hotchner’s headaches

9:09am

You guys need to help w the kid hes so sad i dont know what to do

James texted back first, which didn’t surprise her.

doctor james, medicine man

9:10am

Is he okay? 

the cause of hotchner’s headaches

9:10am

HES SAD I CANT HANDLE IT COME HELP ME

spaghetti grandpa

9:11am

He’ll be fine. He knows everybodys coming back today right?

the cause of hotchner’s headaches

9:12am

HE IS SAD NOW COME OVER

She set her phone aside as Spencer walked back up to the table with a carton of chocolate milk in his hands. “Can you open this for me, please?” he asked. 

She did and handed it back, but he didn’t drink it. “How about we go watch a movie or something?” she suggested. “While we’re waiting for everybody to get back on campus. That’ll be fun, right?”

He shrugged. “I guess,” he said. “What time is it?”

“A little after nine.”

He scrunched up his face, calculating. “Who do you think will be back first?” he asked.

“I don’t know, babe, we’ll have to see,” she said. “Drink your milk and we’ll get out of here.”

He sighed. “I don’t think I want it anymore,” he said. She shot him her best impression of Alex’s mom look. He rolled his eyes, but he drank it anyway.

Outside the dining hall it was cold and gray and dreary, rain falling just steadily enough to be irritating. She pulled the hood of her jacket over her head and made Spencer put his purple galaxy-print raincoat on over his his sweater before they walked down the steps. 

“Do you think the weather will ground planes?” he asked anxiously. 

“Your guess is as good as mine, squirt,” she said. “It’ll definitely rain all day, but I don’t know if it’ll affect planes. You’ll probably know better than me.”

He said nothing, but he slipped his small hand into hers. She squeezed back gently. The kid had been perfectly well-behaved the whole time she’d been left to watch him, but it was frustrating to see him so sad and quiet and droopy. She didn’t think it was possible to be homesick for other people, but Spencer definitely had a bad case of it.

They settled in the common room, but the cozy space seemed cavernous and empty without the rest of the group. Spencer left his coat and his shoes in his room and settled into Alex’s usual spot on the couch, leaning on the armrest. 

“So what do you want to do, kiddo?” she said. He raised and lowered one shoulder. She huffed. “I’ll just pick something then.”

“Nothing scary, please,” he said, his chin resting on his folded arms.

“No, don’t worry, I learned my lesson,” she said. She grabbed a Star Wars off the shelf- she wasn’t sure which one it was, but she figured she couldn’t go wrong with something sci fi.

“Hotch’s plane lands at eleven, right?” he said as she plunked down on the opposite end of the couch.

“I think so,” she said. She reached over and ruffled his hair lightly. “Stop overthinking, you’re going to blow a fuse in there. Everyone will be home soon, don’t worry about it.”

“I’m not worried,” he mumbled.

They got about halfway through Star Wars (she still wasn’t entirely sure which one it was) when they heard Dave and James on the stairs. “Hey, guys!” Dave called. “We’ve got presents!”

Emily paused the movie. “What do you mean, presents?” she said. “What’d you bring me?”

James and Dave each held large plastic tubs that they dropped with heavy clatters on the floor. “Spencer, you’ve been having fun with the legos we got you for your birthday, right?” James said.

Spencer raised his head. “Yeah,” he said slowly.

“Well, we decided to dig around for our old lego collections you can have your own giant collection,” Dave said. 

He slid off the couch. “Really?” he said.

“Yeah, absolutely,” James said. “Go get yours, we’ll put them all together.”

Spencer’s eyes lit up. “Okay!” he said, darting off to his room.

“Oh my god, thank goodness you two are here,” Emily said. 

“You know, you said he was sad, and I didn’t believe it till I saw him,” Dave said, wrenching the lid off the first bin. “He looks like a deflated balloon.”

“See? I wasn’t lying,” Emily said. “Poor kid has been moping all week.”

James checked his phone. “Hopefully everybody will get in without any problems,” he said. “Alex texted me a little bit ago and said they delayed her flight by an hour.” 

“Oh, yikes,” Emily said. “She’d better get back here soon. And don’t tell the kid that, he’ll worry more.”

Spencer ran back into the room with his legos. “How should I organize them?” he asked. “Color first or size first?”

“How about we, you know, build something?” Dave suggested as he sat down on the couch. “C’mere, passerotto, I think I have all the pieces to the batcave.”

“Ooh, which version?” James asked as Spencer sat down on the floor in front of Dave.

“I don’t know. I think I built it once when I was Spencer’s age and then never touched it again.”

Emily leaned over James and scooped up a handful of plastic pieces. “What are you going to build?” she asked.

“Hey, don’t copy me!”

They worked on their projects mostly in companionable silence, sometimes absent chatter. Rain continued to tap at the windows. At least Spencer seemed distracted at last, focused on his projects.

Lightning cracked, white light shining through the window for a brief moment, and everyone jumped; Spencer knocked over one of his structures. “Holy shit,” Emily said. “That was terrifying.”

“You okay?” Dave asked, touching Spencer’s arm lightly.

He nodded, leaning against Dave until he lifted him onto his lap. “Do you think everybody’s okay?” he asked. “Planes can’t always fly in this sort of weather.”

“I’m sure everybody’s fine,” Dave reassured him. Spencer bit his lip, still staring out the window. “So what have you been building?”

“Scale model of campus,” he said. “Well, it’s not exactly to scale. But it’s pretty close.”

James held up a lump of legos. “This was supposed to be a plane,” he said. “But it doesn’t look particularly aerodynamic.”

Spencer laughed. “What kind of plane is it supposed to be?” he asked. “It looks like an off-kilter Cessna.”

“I don’t know. Just...a plane,” James said. 

“I’m trying to see how tall I can build this thing without it falling over,” Emily said. “Not much success yet.”

“I’m sure you know, caro,” Dave said, poking Spencer lightly in the side. “How tall is the tallest lego structure ever?”

“The tallest one is in Milan, it’s a hundred and fourteen feet, eleven inches tall,” he said. “The previous tallest was just a hundred and fourteen feet tall, in Budapest.”

“Milan, hm?” Dave said. “Maybe I’ll go see it next time I’m over there.”

“There’s one in Tel Aviv that was built to be four feet taller but-”

Lightning cracked again and Spencer jumped. Dave rubbed his back lightly. “It’s okay, it’s just a bad storm,” he said. It was too late, though- the attempts at distraction had failed, and Spencer was clearly back to worrying, the corners of his mouth tugging down.

Dave looked over at Emily. What should we do? he mouthed. She shrugged helplessly.

Thankfully, right at that moment heavy footsteps echoed on the stairs. Spencer raised his head. Please let it be one of our group, please let it be one of our group, Emily thought fervently.

A tall figure in a rain-soaked coat made it to the top of the stairs, almost terrifying for a split second, but he threw back his hood and shook his head. “Jesus, that was a nightmare,” he said. 

Spencer scrambled to his feet and ran towards him, nearly kicking Dave in his haste. “Hotch!” he shrieked, throwing his arms around his waist.

“Hey, kiddo!” Hotch said, bending to hug him. “Hey, careful, it’s raining really hard out there, I’m drenched and I don’t want you to get wet.” 

“How was your flight?” James asked.

Spencer, undeterred, still clung to Hotch; Hotch ran his fingers through his thick short curls. “Unbelievably shitty,” he said. “Flights were getting canceled left and right, it’s just storming bad everywhere. If I hadn’t gotten such an early flight, I might not’ve made it back.”

“That’s what we’ve been worrying about,” Emily said. “And when I say we I mean Spencer.”

Hotch tugged him back so he could see his face. “Hey, stop worrying,” he said. “Everybody will get back eventually. I promise.” 

“I can’t help worrying,” Spencer said. “What if everybody’s flights get delayed? What if something happens to their planes. What if-”

Hotch scooped him up. “Hey, I think the dining hall’s open for lunch,” he said. “Anybody else hungry? I didn’t have time for breakfast before my flight and all they gave me was one packet of pretzels.”

“They stopped giving away peanuts because of allergies becoming more common,” Spencer said, leaning his cheek against Hotch’s shoulder even though his coat was soaked with rain.

“Yeah?” Hotch said. “How about you go get your coat and your shoes, okay? I’m starving.”

“Okay,” Spencer said reluctantly. Hotch set him back down on his feet and he ran down the hall to his room.

“I am so glad you’re back, Hotchner,” Emily said, sweeping her lego tower back into the bin. “He’s been so sad with everybody gone.”

“I can tell,” he said. “Has he been like this the whole time?”

“Oh, yeah,” Emily said. “I’ve barely been able to get two words out of him.”

“Even when they came over for Thanksgiving he wasn’t talking much,” James added.

Hotch sighed. “I didn’t even think about this,” he said. “Poor kid.”

Emily’s phone buzzed. “Oh, it’s Penelope,” she said. “I’ll put her on speaker. Hey, Pen, how’s it going?”

“Terrible!” Penelope said, her voice crackling over the line. “I made the flight from California to Texas for my layover, but they canceled my connecting flight. It’s storming too bad.”

“Oh, yikes,” Dave said. “Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she sighed. “They have me booked for a flight first thing in the morning, and the airline is putting me up in a hotel for the night, but it’s so frustrating.”

“I’m sure,” James said. “Stay safe, okay? Do you need anything?”

“Are you kidding? The hotel has like a million channels and room service, I’m doing great!” Penelope said. “I’ll call you guys in the morning before my flight, okay? Talk to you soon!”

Emily sighed as the call ended. “Well, that’s one down,” she said.

“Penelope’s not coming?”

Spencer peeked out of the hall, his rainboots on and his coat dragging from his hand. “Yeah, her connecting flight got canceled,” Dave said. “But she’s safe, and she’ll be on a flight tomorrow, okay? So don’t worry.”

Judging by the way he pressed his mouth together, he definitely was worried. Emily pushed herself up from the floor. “Let’s go get lunch, okay?” she said. “Before Hotch starves.”

The rain had gotten decidedly worse, coming down in heavy sheets and flooding patches of the courtyard. Her umbrella helped a little but not much; Dave complained loudly the entire walk over. Spencer stayed glued to Hotch’s side, clinging tightly to his hand even once they made it to the warm safety of the dining hall. 

Hotch pulled Spencer’s hood down as they got in line. “What do you want?” he asked. 

“I’m not hungry,” he said.

He frowned, then covered Spencer’s ears. “Emily, be honest,” he said. “Did he eat while we were gone?”

“Not for lack of trying,” she said. “I kept putting shit on his plate and he barely touched it.”

“Did he just eat ice cream and candy?”

“He didn’t even want sweets. Or coffee, even.”

Hotch’s frown deepened. “Well, shit,” he said. He dropped his hands to Spencer’s shoulders. “Okay, kid, you have to eat something. If you don’t pick, I’ll pick for you.”

Spencer shrugged. “That’s fine,” he said. 

Hotch met Emily’s gaze, eyebrows raised. “I told you,” she said. 

She followed Hotch down the cafeteria line as he filled up two plates. Spencer stayed so close he ran the risk of getting stepped on, his small hand clinging to the hem of Hotch’s jacket.

Dave and James had beaten them to their usual table, and neither of them looked particularly happy. “Bad news,” James said. “JJ just called. Her parents rescheduled her flight. They were worried about the storms, so she’ll be here tomorrow afternoon.”

Emily glanced over at Spencer. “But she’s okay?” he said anxiously.

“She’s fine, caro,” Dave said. “And she’ll be here tomorrow.”

“What about Derek and Alex?” he asked. “Have they called? Or texted.”

“Not yet,” James said. “Maybe they’re already on their flights, though. I”m sure we’ll hear from them soon.”

Hotch set the tray down on the table, then picked Spencer up and set him down in his chair. “They’ll be fine,” he said. “So how did Thanksgiving go for you guys?”

Even with their attempts at changing the subject and trying to draw him into the conversation, Spencer seemed to sink further into himself, his legs tucked up under him and his chin resting in his hand, his plate still mostly untouched. Emily couldn’t blame him for being sad. All week it had been just the two of them in the nearly-deserted dining hall, and even with the boys there it seemed wrong without the rest of the group- Penelope shrieking about something that didn’t need to be shrieked about, Derek regaling them with stories from football practice, JJ’s pretty laugh bubbling over, Alex keeping the peace and stopping cups and plates from getting knocked over and tilted onto the ground.

Hotch didn’t make much headway getting Spencer to eat, but at least he ate a little bit, and their little group braved the storm to get back to Lincoln House. “What have you guys been up to?” he asked as they settled in the common room again, coats and umbrellas hung up to dry.

“Legos,” James said. “This was supposed to be a plane.”

Hotch laughed. “Yikes,” he said. “I’m glad you’re not planning on going into engineering.”

“Yeah, probably for the best,” he said ruefully. “I-”

“Hold on, hold on,” Dave interrupted. “Did you guys see the group chat?”

Emily fumbled for her phone. “No, I didn’t, I...oh.”

“What’s wrong?” Hotch asked.

“Derek’s flight got canceled too,” James said. “He says it got delayed and he sat on the tarmac for three hours, but they pulled everybody off the plane. His mom’s already picked him up, so he’s fine.”

Emily glanced over at Spencer. He curled himself up smaller, his knees tucked up to his chest, chewing on his thumbnail. “But he’ll be here tomorrow?” he said. 

“Yeah, he’ll be here tomorrow,” Dave reassured him.

Spencer lifted his head. “Can we call Alex?” he asked quietly. 

“Yeah, of course,” Emily said, immediately pulling Alex’s contact info on the screen. “Here, kiddo. Just press-”

Lightning cracked, and with a sharp pop the common room went dark.

“Holy shit!” Emily shrieked, the phone falling from her hand.

“Did a fuse blow?” Dave said.

James got up and looked out the window. “Well, judging by the other buildings on campus...I think the power’s out everywhere,” he said.

“Well, fuck,” Hotch said.

Emily raised an eyebrow. “Watch your language!” she said in mock horror.

“Oh, shut up,” Hotch said good-naturedly. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait for the power to come back on. Spencer, do you want to go ahead and call Alex? She’ll probably be glad to miss the power outage.”

“I think the tower’s down too,” Spencer said in a small voice. “There’s no signal.” He held the phone back out to Emily. “Thanks anyway.”

She reached for the phone, and as the lock screen flickered she caught the faint mark of tears on his cheek. “Oh, no,” she said. “Oh, fuck. Spencer, don’t cry.”

“I’m not crying,” he said, but there was a distinct wobble in his voice.

“Spencer, it’s going to be okay,” Hotch said. “The power’s going to come back on, and everyone will be home soon.”

It was too dark to see, but she could hear Spencer sniffling in a valiant effort to keep form crying. “I know,” he said. “But I-”

Hotch picked Spencer up and placed him in Emily’s lap. “Stay here with Em for a second,” he said. “James, Dave, come with me.”

Spencer dropped his head against Emily’s collarbone as she wrapped her arms around him. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

“Don’t be sorry,” she said. “It’s been a rough week, dude. You didn’t get to go home and see your family, and you miss everybody. And you’re worried because of the storms. It makes sense.” She kissed the top of his head. “And now we’ve got all this power outage shit. But it’ll be okay.”

Hotch dumped an armload of stuff onto the nearest armchair. “Thank goodness for Penelope’s illegal candle stash,” he said. 

Emily twined one of Spencer’s short curls around her finger. “What’s with all of the pillows and blankets?” she asked.

In the dim light she could see Hotch grin. “We’re going to make a blanket fort,” he said. “C’mere, Spencer, I could use your brain for this.”

Emily set Spencer on his feet as James and Dave brought in their collections of pillows and blankets. She busied herself lighting candles and placing them in safe places around the room as Spencer directed the older boys in their construction. He seemed to perk up a little bit with something to focus on, especially as they let him be in charge.

“Okay, I’ve made some blanket forts in my day, but this one is pretty cool,” James said. 

“That’s because Penelope has about eight million blankets and they’re all soft as baby puppies,” Emily said as she crawled into the fort. “I claim the blue pillow!”

All five of them fit comfortably inside, the interior lit with a string of battery operated fairy lights, also taken from Penelope’s room. Spencer nestled himself between Hotch and Emily. “Are we going to tell Penelope that we borrowed all of her stuff?” he asked. 

Hotch handed him his favorite blanket. “I think if we leave the fort up till she gets back, she won’t mind as long as she gets to hang out in here,” he said. 

“What should we do?” Dave asked. “Power’s still out, and there’s no wifi either.”

“Oh!” Emily said. “Okay, I’ve been trying to get you to listen to this album for weeks. Now is the perfect time! You’re a captive audience.”

They took turns passing each other’s phones back and forth, listening to different songs in the comfort of the handmade blanket fort, playfully arguing over each other’s tastes in music as the warm glow of the fairy lights cast soft shadows. Spencer seemed a little less tense now, snuggled safely between Hotch and Emily with his blanket hugged to his chest.

She hadn’t kept track of time, but it was at least two hours before the power switched back on, the overhead lights suddenly way too bright after the dimmness of the tent. “There we go,” Dave said, sitting up and checking his phone. “And we’ve got signal again!” He stretched his arm over James and Emily to hold out the phone to Spencer. “Here, passerotto, see if you can call Alex.”

He took it eagerly and tapped at the screen to bring up her info, but his excitement faded almost instantly. “It went right to voicemail,” he said. “Thanks anyway.”

James scrambled ungracefully to his feet. “Hey, since the power’s back, who wants to watch a movie?” he said. 

“Not a Star War, please,” Emily called. “I can’t tell any of them apart.”

Hotch propped himself up on his elbow. “Hey, Spence,” he said. “It’s okay. I’m sure Alex is fine.”

“Yeah,” Spencer said. He turned to Hotch, one corner of his mouth tugging up in a rueful little half smile. “I bet her flight got canceled too. It’s okay.”

James flipped the overhead lights off, leaving them back in the glow of the candles and the string lights, and crawled back into the fort with the remote in his hand. “All right, if anyone has objections, y’all can get up yourself and change it,” he said.

Emily settled back as the movie started. Spencer was quiet beside her, but after a while he rolled over onto his stomach, his forehead pressed against Hotch’s arm and his blanket tangled around his legs, and she smiled when she heard his first little snore.

“Hotchner,” she whispered. “This blanket fort idea was genius.”

Hotch grinned. “Sean made me make one for him while I was home,” he said. “I figured Spencer might like it too.” He paused. “Is he asleep?” Emily nodded. “Thank god.”

James sat up and pushed his hair out of his eyes. “Guys, I still haven’t heard from Alex,” he said. “It’s still going right to voicemail when I call her and she hasn’t answered any texts.”

“Maybe her signal’s out too,” Dave said. “Don’t worry about it. Alex can take care of herself.”

James pouted. “Yeah, but...I might be a little worried about her,” he said. “It’s not like her to not answer.”

“Awww, you miss your girlfriend,” Emily teased. 

“I do! I do miss her!” James said. 

“Guys, if any of you wake up Spencer, I will murder you,” Hotch hissed. 

“I’m sorry!” James whispered back. “I just- I think I need to be worried about Alex.”

Suddenly a familiar person knelt down and leaned into the tent. “You’re worried about me?” Alex said, her long red hair hanging loose around her shoulders. “That’s so sweet!”

James scrambled up, smacking Dave in the face in his haste. “Oh my god, I missed you!” he said. He tugged her closer, cupping her face in his hands, and kissed her deeply. “Oh my god. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she laughed, running her fingers through his hair. “My phone died and I didn’t pack any of my portable chargers in my carryon. Where’s everybody else?”

“Everybody’s flights are delayed,” Emily said. “Spencer’s been beside himself.”

“Oh, poor thing,” she said. “Is he sleeping? I don’t want to wake him up.”

“Yeah, he just dozed off,” Hotch said. “He’s going to be so relieved to see you.”

Emily scooted over to make room. “C’mere, the movie hasn’t been on for very long,” she said. 

“Hey!” James protested. “She’s my girlfriend, shouldn’t she be next to me?”

“Well, she’s my roommate, and I’ve had her for longer,” Emily said. Alex laughed as she settled between her and Spencer, busying herself with snuggling him against her side and tucking him in. Emily leaned over to whisper in James’s ear. “Besides, we all know you two are gonna go fool around the second you get a chance. You’ll get your quality time, don’t worry.”

Even in the dim light she could see him turn red. “What are you guys whispering about?” Alex asked. 

“Nothing!” James squeaked. Emily made a rude hand gesture and he smacked her arm. “Emily! Stop it!”

She snickered as she leaned her head against Alex’s shoulder. “How was your week being in charge?” Alex asked as she adjusted Spencer’s blanket around him.

“Could have been worse...could have been a lot better,” Emily said. “He was so sad. I’m not good with sad kids.”

“I’m sure you did great,” Alex reassured her.

The movie was almost over when Spencer began to shift and whimper in his sleep. “Is he okay?” Emily asked.

“He’s-” Hotch winced as Spencer kicked him in the shins. “Ow. Bad dream, I think.”

Alex sat up. “Okay, I’m going to wake him up,” she said. 

“Careful, he can be pretty feisty,” Hotch warned.

Alex stroked his hair back from his forehead as he tried to pull away from her. “Spencer, wake up,” she called gently, her hand resting on his chest. “Come on, darling.”

She kept coaxing him until his eyes finally opened. “What’s going on?” he mumbled.

“You had a bad dream,” she said. 

He blinked. “Alex?” he said sleepily. “Did your plane land safely?”

Hotch laughed. “Yeah, kiddo, her plane landed safely,” he said. “Get the sleep out of your eyes.”

Spencer rubbed his face and blinked again. “Alex!” he yelped, throwing himself into her arms. 

“Hi, baby,” she said. “Did you miss me?”

“A little bit,” he said, tilting his face so she could kiss his cheek. “Was your flight okay? Was there a lot of turbulence?”

“Everything was fine,” she reassured him as she cuddled him against her side. “Now, sh, I think Dave is getting invested in the movie.”

“No, I’m not,” he said absently.

“Yes, he is,” Emily teased.

Spencer settled down with his head on Alex’s knees; Hotch tugged his blanket around him. “Everybody else will be here tomorrow,” he said. “Penelope’s connecting flight got canceled, and Derek’s got canceled, and JJ’s parents rescheduled her.”

“That’s good,” she said, stroking her fingers through his hair. “Go back to sleep, darling. You look so tired. And everything’s going to be okay, nothing to worry about.”

The rain had settled back into a light tapping on the window; the thunder and lightning had long since stopped. Emily leaned back against her pillows, smiling in contented relief. Alex was right. Everything was going to be okay.

[peterspideyy]

5 times peter parker wanted to tell you he loves you, and the one time he finally does

summary- basically the title

warnings- angst, death, blood, swear words

1.

the first time peter wanted to tell you he loved you more than a friend was, when you both were studying for a test at his house. may said you could sleep over as it was getting late, and you live across town. she didn’t mind you sleeping over though, it’s not like you haven’t done it before.

“ughh can we stop studying? i feel like my head is about to explode with knowledge!” you sighed heavily, smacking your science book against your head causing peter to laugh tiredly.

“mmm okay, do you want to watch a film?”

“you know it!”

within minutes, peter had star wars on and sweets ready for you both. you were both engrossed in the film in-front of you, while you sat on peter’s bed, covered in blankets. you and peter were so interested in what was happening, that you didn’t realise you both moved your hands at the same time, to pick up the same piece of popcorn, causing your hands to meet and an electrical spark to form.

you both looked at each other, before you smiled, apologising slightly and turned back to the film. but, peter couldn’t turn his eyes away. he was engrossed not in the film, but in you. and in that moment, peter realised he was falling in love with his best friend.

2.

the second time peter wanted to tell you he loved you more than a friend was, when you stood up to flash when he was being mean to peter. it was during lunch at midtown school, where you, peter, ned and mj all sat on your regular table in the canteen. peter couldn’t help but look at you for longer after you spoke. you just looked so beautiful, causing peter to blush. but then, flash came causing you all the groan in annoyance.

“hey penis parker! still with your imaginary girlfriend? or are you still drooling over y/n?”

peter wanted to punch him right in the face when he mentioned your name. but, he also mentally slapped himself for being so dumb at how obvious he was in love with you.

“flash...go away!” peter spoke quietly, not making eye contact, but instead looking at you.

“ohhh, your not denying that you love her then?”

“flash,” you harshly spoke, looking at him, “do us a favour and fuck off! stop saying peter doesn’t have a girlfriend! it just shows how he hasn’t found the right person yet, which is so clever in my opinion! but, you go round the school going out with every girl which is so fucking stupid! so, can you please leave us alone so we can eat our fucking lunch?!”

the whole canteen fell quiet, causing you to blush slightly looking down at her food. seconds later, students forgot about what happened and the canteen came back to life. flash laughed slightly, before walking away which was must of a relief to the group.

“y/n i-i,” peter was going to say it, he was so close to saying it, “i-i i appreciate that you stood up for me.”

“no worries, it’s what best friends do!”

peter flinched at those words. he didn’t want to be best friends with you. he wanted to call you his.

3.

the third time peter wanted to tell you he loved you more than a friend was, when you found out he was spiderman.

it was silly how you found out the friendly neighbourhood spiderman was in fact peter parker. during the school day, you both agreed to go to peter’s house after school to study (which is what you normally do.) you told him that you had to collect something, but would meet him at his house which he happily agreed.

however, peter being spiderman caused him to be hours late to meeting you at his house, due to fighting all the bad guys.

with many persuasions from karen, peter decided to go home, causing him to want his bed even more. when he snook into his room, he was shocked to find you sat on his bed, starring at him.

you must of starred at each other for minutes, before you actually moved towards peter.

“you-you’re spiderman?”

“errr,” peter didn’t know if it was a statement or question, “yehh?”

“w-what? how is this possible? are you an avenger?”

“i’m sure you have lots of questions, which i would answer tomorrow. you know, fighting bad guys is tiring!”

“are you hurt?!”

“shhh y/n!” peter quickly looked to the door, incase may heard.

“may doesn’t know?!”

“no, if she found out she would definitely tell me to stop!”

“okay okay okay, i won’t tell anyone if that’s what your wondering. we are not done with this conversation though, pete!”

“yes, okay,” peter smiled slightly at you, “thanks for excepting me as spiderman.”

“it’s okay, i love,” when you spoke, peter hoped you would say those three words, he’s been dying to say for the past two months, “being friends with spiderman! so cool!”

peter wanted to cry. of course, you think you’re only friends. all he wanted to do, was kiss you and tell you how much he loved you. but he couldn’t.

“right, i’ve got to go! see you tomorrow spidey!”

“yeah, bye.” peter sulked, once you left, falling onto his bed with his head stuffed in his pillow.

how can it be so hard telling your best friend that he loves you more than a friend?

4.

the fourth time peter wanted to tell you he loved you more than a friend was, mainly due to ned.

you, peter and ned where all at ned’s house, building a lego death star. you where all eating crap, which isn’t abnormal for all of you.

“right i’ll be right back, i need the toilet.” you smiled to them both, before leaving the room.

peter and ned watched you leave, before ned quickly turned to peter as soon as you left the room.

“mate, you gotta tell her!”

peter kind of regrets telling ned how he feels about you, instead of telling well...you. whenever ned gets the chance, he reminds peter on his feelings. it’s not like peter reminds himself 24/7.

“ned, no. she’s said so many times how she views me as a friend.” peter replied, looking away from him to carry on placing lego in the correct places.

“peter...listen to me,” ned spoke, causing peter to meet his eyes before sighing slightly, “if you don’t tell her how you feel, she will soon find someone who will tell her. she will move on. i bet you, actually i know she likes you back. you can just see the love you both feel when your in the same room! it’s disgusting but in a cute way. peter, if you don’t tell her, you’ll loose the chance to.”

“don’t tell who what?” you entered, making peter and ned jump (especially peter.)

you couldn’t of heard everything could you? thoughts where running through peters mind, at what you could of heard. peter sensed that ned was looking at him, forcing him to finally say what he’s been wanting to say for months.

“i-i,” peter was shocked, he couldn’t bare this amount of stress, “i’ve got to go.”

“oh.” you spoke quietly, immediately thinking you said something which upset him. without saying a goodbye, peter left, leaving his best friend and the girl who he loved to much to say.

5.

the fifth time peter wanted to tell you he loved you more than a friend was, when he found out you had a boyfriend.

peter harshly choked on his food in the school canteen, when you said you were going out with brad. peter wanted to scream in pain, anger and sadness. he missed his chance. he wants to shout at ned for what he said two weeks ago about how he will miss his chance. well, ned was right.

“peter? are you okay?”

he wanted to say no. he wanted to say ‘i love you y/n.’ but, he just couldn’t. he sounds so dumb but he physically couldn’t speak.

“yesss, he’s fine. food went down the wrong way.” ned quickly spoke, saving peter from talking. ned felt bad for his best friend, he could see how distraught he was at your news.

“okay. oh, there’s brad! see you guys later!” you smiled at them both, letting your eyes go to peter for longer.

ever since you watched star wars those months ago, you noticed how weirdly peter has been acting around you, but you didn’t know why. was it something you did? is something going on in his life? whatever it is, it’s eating peter from the inside.

once you left, ned immediately looked at peter to see him crying into his hands. he’s never seen peter cry. not even when his uncle died. he didn’t know what to do or how to help his best friend. ned knew, that y/n was peters soulmate, but it was too late.

6.

the one time peter actually told you he loved you was, a moment peter will regret for the rest of his life.

“peter, is y/n with you?”

“no, why?”

“she hasn’t came home.”

peter’s hairs stuck up on the back of his neck, as soon as your mum said those words. he knew something was off. his spider senses were going haywire.

“i’ll call her now mrs l/n.”

“thank you peter, i hope she’s okay.”

he could sense the worry laced within her voice, “me too.”

peter quickly put his suit on, before swinging out the window. he asked his a.i, if she knew were you where, before heading to a location across town, due to karen sensing your heat signature.

a few minutes later, he arrived to a run down building. he quietly swung into a large room, where he noticed a figure sat on a chair in the middle of the room. his breath hitched, when he realised the figure was you. he ran towards you, looking side to side to see if anyone else was here.

“y/n?”

he took in the sight of you. you where clearly beaten, with fresh blood pouring across your body. peter wanted to kill whoever did this to you. you had duck tape across your lips, making your words sound more like muffles.

“oh my god, what happened?” he spoke, carefully taking of the duck tape and untying your hands behind the chair. you suddenly wrapped your arms around peters neck, letting the tears fall while he calmed you.

“c-can we go?”

“gladly.” he replied, before shooting a web to leave.

“not so fast, spidey.”

peter’s tingles went off, when he released who that’s voice belonged to. turning around, he was met with green, wicked eyes.

“greeny! how you doing!” peter spoke, before quickly telling you to hide and to stay there.

“better, now your here! i can finally ruin you. for good.” the green goblin smiled wickedly, before throwing his first punch.

meanwhile, you found a spot behind a cupboard. you were shaking so quickly. why was this happening to you? you’ve had enough stress this past week. you and brad broke up. you failed your test. you and peter haven’t been talking properly, which you didn’t know why.

you looked above the cupboard, to see peter fighting the green goblin. webs and knives where being flown across the room. you where so intrigued, with what peter was doing you didn’t see that the goblin noticed you.

“you took away my world,” the goblin spoke to peter, not loosing eye contact from you, “so i’m going to take away yours.”

peter followed the goblins eyes to you. god, no. not you.

“y/n, run!” peter screeched, before fighting the goblin away from you. but he was faster, and flew towards you, spinning you into his arms.

“goblin, you don’t want to do this. if you do this, i will fucking kill you!”

“ahh good. you know what my weakness is, spiderman? making sure you’re dead, inside and outside.” the goblin replied wickedly, before grabbing one of his spikes, looking at you before stabbing you deep in the chest.

it was as time slowed down for you. the excruciating pain you felt, once he removed the spike overflowed you. you heard peter’s screams, before you where threw onto the ground below the goblins ship.

“bye spidey, i’ll be back.” he spoke, before flying away.

peter quickly took his mask off, running desperately to you. blood was pouring out of your wound, to quickly for peter to handle. his head was spinning. tears fell from his eyes, landing softly onto your bruised neck.

“p-pete...” you spoke softly, whimpering at the pain you felt.

“shhh, it’s o-okay,” he spoke, smiling slighting, moving your soft and dirty hair out of your face, “y-y/n i need to tell you something.”

you met his eyes, crying slightly but waiting for him to continue.

“i-i i love you,” he laughed slightly, glad he finally told you, “more than a friend, i love you so much y/n l/n.”

“i-i love you too p-peter parker.”

peter smiled widely, stroking your cheek slightly before leaning in kissing your lips. it was as fireworks where exploding. the kiss tasted like salt from the tears and blood, but in was filled with pure love and adoration.

peter moved away to meet your eyes smiling slightly. but, his smile soon disappeared when he noticed your eyes were glazed.

“n-no,” peter shook you violently, “wake up! wake up! don’t you dare leave me.”

seconds passed, and you weren’t responding to peter’s desperate calls.

“y-y/n, i can’t live without you.” he whispered into your ear, letting his sobs out.

he told you he loved you. but, it was too late. you have left him, and peter hates himself for it.

“i love you, y/n.” peter spoke to the empty room.

————

a/n - wow okay, this is super sad. i think i cried twice while writing this ahah. if you have any requests comment below or dm me! thanks for reading x

[kittybellestark]

Peter Parker Loves Everyone He Meets

Peter Parker Loves Everyone he Meets.

Peter Parker is tired of loving everyone. He loves people with all he has. He just wants them to know they’re wanted and loved and that they aren’t alone. But he’s tired. He’s so tired. It just takes so much sometimes. But he can’t let people know that he’s tired, he can’t let them know he’s tired from caring about them.

He doesn’t remember his parents. Of course he doesn’t. But Peter remembers that he felt loved. He remembers the feel of his mothers hugs, and how warm they were. He remembers the sound of his dad’s laugh as he put a hand on his shoulder and gave a squeeze. Peter doesn’t remember his parents, but he remembers feeling loved, and that’s worth a lot, isn’t it?

Of course he remembers Ben, his death was still relatively recent (though feeling like a lifetime ago, which, Peter supposes, it was). He also remembers how loved he felt with Ben. He remember Ben and him ‘sneaking out’ to get ice cream, or to watch Star Wars in that one theater that only ever played old movies. He remembers Ben helping him with his homework and that one special smile only reserved for him.

Peter remembers how his family loved him. And he’s thankful he still has May’s love. But he remembers how he felt. He also remembers his parents and his uncle’s love.

Peter also remembers how it feels to not be loved. Not that he was ever without love, but he remembers feeling like we wasn’t loved. 

He remembers being told that his parent’s were never going to come back to him. He remembers feeling like the only people who loved him were gone. He remembers only being a child and feeling alone. Peter remembers that for the first time in his life he felt like no one loved him.

Peter also remembers the next time in his life that he felt anything but loved. And alone. Of course he was anything but alone at that specific time he felt like the only boy in the world who was being told that “friends always do this,” and “Einstein, haven’t I told you before that it’s important to know you’re friend inside and out? I’m just making sure we do just that.”  Peter remembers every excruciating moment the first time it happened. And he remembers not remembering every other time it happened. He remembers it starting, but then he remember not feeling anything, and later being so sore, and hurt with bruises just under his collarbone. And he remembers being told “The things you do to me Einstein, you make me so weak. I love our little secret, I hope we can keep it forever.”

And then Ben died and Peter watched him die. Felt him die. Watch as his eyes became empty and his skin go grey, blood pooling on the sidewalk. And Peter knew. He knew there was only one person left who he loved (and only one who loved him back). Peter knew that if he lost May then he really wouldn’t have anyone.

So Peter started to invest himself in people. Of course it was hard. So hard. Everyone seems to be dying. And I mean there was- trusting people is hard. Letting people become so close to himself is also hard, especially when he knows what could possibly happen. 

Ned is already a friend, while they aren’t all that close, they sit with each other at lunch, and meet each other at their respective lockers. So, yeah they’re friends. Peter just needs to put himself out there. Get closer to Ned. He can do this. Peter Parker can do this. 

And Peter does it!! Peter loves Ned. Ned is Peter’s best friend, and they have sleepovers all the time. Ned even brings his Lego over to Peters!! Ned is the coolest person ever and Peter loves Ned. 

Peter needs to tell Ned. But he needs it to be casual, make so Ned knows it’s in a friend way. Platonic love is a very important type of love and Peter knows Ned deserves it more than most people.

For Peter’s birthday Ned got him a Star Wars Lego set. Peter has been looking at this set for a while, but it was $60!! No one who wasn’t related to him has ever bought him anything worth so much before.

“Ned you shouldn’t have!” Peter laughs hugging his friend.

“You deserve it man.” Ned says back also laughing as May starts serving cake.

“Ned honestly, it means a lot. I love you man, you’re the best.”

After Ned it’s a lot easier to connect with people who want to be friends with him. He’s got MJ now, and Mr Stark, and while they both tried keeping Peter at arms length it was pretty easy when they finally cracked a tiny bit. 

Peter has people now. He’s got May and Ned and MJ and Mr Stark. Peter’s pretty busy, especially because he’s Spider-Man, and Peter loves Queens and all the people in Queens. They need him as much as he needs them. 

As Peter and Mr Stark get closer, and Peter spends more and more time in the lab.Then the lab becomes the living room for movies and pizza, which leads to Peter accidentally falling asleep, and walking up the next morning in a room Mr Stark set up for him on his personal floor.

Peter tried to tell Mr Stark that he loves him, but Mr Stark isn’t ready for that, and that’s okay. Peter just needs to continue showing his mentor how much he cares.

The Avengers move back in, and suddenly Peter had more people he needs to love, had to make sure they felt loved. The Avengers seemed so broken, and alone. Peter knows what it feels like to be alone. So Peter makes it his personal mission to have them remember the stories that Mr Stark told him. Peter is going to make them a family again.

Peter, as it turns out, also loves the returned Avengers. It comes in between the laughter and chaotic dinners, in between midnight snacks and hot chocolates after nightmares.

And now Peter is really busy, he has decathlon on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Lab on Tuesday and Thursdays. Dance practices with MJ Monday Evenings and Thursday’s before school, Ned on Wednesday evenings. Sleeping at the tower Friday night and every second Saturday night. May-Time on Sundays, Patrol until 11pm on school nights, 12pm on non school nights, and of course homework and he needs to sleep at some point, and remember to eat too. And if somebody needs him, he needs to make sure he’s available to help them, without making anyone else feel alone.

Mr Stark then introduces Peter to Harley Keener. Harley Keener does not seem to like Peter at all, and doesn’t seem interested in changing that. But Peter looks at Harley, and see’s that he’s alone in a new unfamiliar places, without any of his family, and he’s worried Harley feels alone. So Peter pushes, and pushes and pushes.

Harley resists, he doesn’t break. And Peter somehow Loves Harley, in a way he has never felt before. In a way Harley will not return. Peter is okay with it though, because while Harley may feel that Peter is a “pest,” and a “complete annoyance, that shouldn’t even be able to step foot in the tower,” Peter knows that he may have at least helped Harley feel less alone.

Peter just wishes he felt the same way. Because Peter has people, he has so many people, and they need him, and he needs them, but he feels alone. And he loves all these people so much that it physically hurts. He would do anything for all the people he loves. But he’s so tired. 

Peter is so tired of loving people. Of loving his friends and family. He doesn’t remember feeling tired of loving Ben or May. But when has any of the people he loves, aside from May, ever say that they love him? No one tells Peter he’s loved.

Maybe Peter doesn’t have people. Maybe people have Peter. Peter shakes that unwelcomed thought out of his head as he reads over Ned’s schools report, fixing any mistakes.

Peter is tired though, as his phones continues to be filled with calls and texts of whoever saying “I need you!” And Peter can’t help but selfishly think ‘I need me too!’

On a Wednesday Peter is walking home, because May wanted him home for dinner before heading over to Ned’s, when he receives a phone call.

Peter picks it up without looking a who called, it doesn’t really matter it’s just another person he loves needing Peters help. Peter starts crossing the busy, fast moving street as the person on the other line is asking for help.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry, I’ll try tonight okay?” Peter tries to compromise, pausing in the middle of the road, hesitating over his answer and feeling the world weigh so much heavier on his shoulders.

His ‘Spidey-Sense’ doesn’t go off until it’s too late. Peter gets hit by a car, the driver was texting at the time, and Peters phone goes flying one way as peter feels himself roll up the hood of the car, impact with the windshield, before flying up further and crashing into the ground.

Cars and buses are swerving to miss the kid laying in the middle of the road, onlookers taking out their phones and taking pictures and videos at what has transpired.

Peter landing face down, head hitting the concrete hard enough to knock him out, bookbag filled with textbooks crushing his back. Peter is bleeding, but onlookers don’t know from where, can’t move Peter to find out because he may have broken his back, but the evidence is on the road.

With how quickly the pictures and videos were uploaded onto social media, Peter’s face clearly visible, it takes no time for Friday to alert Tony that Peter was hit by a car and is now trending on social media, with his location already programmed into the suit.

Tony gets to the accident scene quickly, doesn’t let anyone touch Peter until his own team of doctors comes and collects him.

Peter wakes up briefly, not long enough to know what’s happening or why Iron Man is there, but long enough to note how tired he is and how he’s alone.

He wakes up next in the Medbay. Attached to an IV with drugs strong enough to help with the pain, and a heart monitor. He wakes up to dimmed, warm lights, and a room full of people.

May and Ned and MJ and Mr Stark and The Avengers and Harley Keener are all hanging around in his over sized Medbay room. Everyone he loves is in his room, but Peter still feels alone.

“What happened?” Peter finally speaks, bringing all the attention to him.

“You got hit by a car, Kid.” Tony responds when no one else seems to know what to say.

Peter remembers walking home from school and getting a call asking for help, he remembers pausing for a moment and then he remembers waking up, no car, no injury.

“Huh.”

“Is that all you have to say about it?” May asks. She knows Peter should have been able to sense the danger coming, should have been able to move out of the way, and never end up here.

“Don’t remember actually getting hit. I got a phone call and I felt bad saying no and I stopped, but I don’t think I was trying to get hit. I was distracted and probably didn’t notice until it was too late.”

“Peter Benjamin Parker,” May scolded him giving the idea that she didn’t believe him. “I want the truth.”

“May!” Peter whined rolling his eyes, “I wouldn’t kill myself. I can’t kill myself, I have commitments. And if I were to kill myself I wouldn’t put it on another person. I’ve been tired lately, probably why I didn’t notice.”

“Peter…” May whispers and Peter can’t help but feel uncomfortable in a room of all the people he loved, all judging him.

“May, maybe we should give Peter some privacy instead of doing this in front of everyone.” Tony suggested starting to usher people out of the room, but staying behind himself in case May needed back up.

“I’m not suicidal!” Peter sighed, looking up at the ceiling for a moment, and looking back at May. “I don’t want to kill myself, May. I’m just tired. I’m really tired, and people need to not feel alone. I’m tired, May, I just wanted like half an hour to myself, I just needed some time to think.”

“Peter, honey, you know you can take time to yourself whenever you need it, right?”

“I can’t, I can’t. Someone always seems to need something from me, all the time. What if I tell them no, and then they’re alone and they can’t get other help. I don’t want anyone to be alone. I don’t want them to realize that I’m not worth their time.” Peter didn’t mean to say that. He didn’t mean to say any of it, but he’s so tired, and the pain medication is making him even more emotional. And Peter really, really didn’t want to say any of that.

“Oh baby, no one is going to be tired of you, and we’ll all understand if you need some time to yourself. Everyone here loves you.”

 May ran her fingers through Peter’s hair, trying to give him some comfort. Peter scoffed in response rolling his eyes in such an extravagant way that he could have only learnt it from Tony.  Peter crossed his arms over his chest looking away from May and off to the side.

May turned around to Tony, giving him a look that got Tony moving to the other side of Peters bed, holding onto the boys hand.

“Peter, kid, you can’t seriously think we don’t love you.” Tony spoke softly. Peter gave him a look and Tony sighed. “I’m sorry Peter, I’m sorry that I haven’t shown you properly how much I love you. Peter Parker you are special, and I think of you as my kid, even though I know you aren’t, okay? I’m sorry that we all are really bad with our emotions, but I promise you everyone outside those doors loves you too, we’re all just really bad at saying it.”

Peter Parker loves everyone he meets, but they all love him too.

[popculturebuffet]

Jingle Belle: A Very Special Jingle Belle Special or A goofy holiday comic and a long tired rant about the animation industry

Ho ho ho and merry Christmas as we reach the final stretch of Christmas reviews and it’s all Christmas all the time for the rest of the week for obvious reasons. So we’re starting off by wrapping up Jingle Belle for the season with one more comission. While it’s from my usual client, It’s via patreon as for 5 bucks a month you can get a review a month of your choice. But since that hasn’t taken hold just yet, and won’t till next month, he asked to swap it for this month and here we are.  Not much to cover though this is the very comic where Jing hopped publishers from Oni Press to Dark Horse. The whys I genuinely do not know and at the time, I just know it’s weird to talk about Dark Horse these days. Their not dead nor entirely irrelvant, Resident Alien, which I really want to check out as it has a really engaging premise, is getting a tv show that I also want to check out as while i’m not sure if it’ll be good, it’s still Alan Tudyk playing an alien who can barely pass for human and it hilariously shows. Whenever that streams i’m not missing a second of that and we all know it. And Umbrella Academy, started during bigger days for the company, is one of netflix’s hottest shows and one of many shows on my to do list I haven’t gotten to because I procastinate like no one else and as taking an entire month to get to the newest loud house shows to the point another one popped up, it bites me in the ass a lot. Point is their not GONE in relevance.. but at the same time they’ve lost the huge tide of liscences they road in on. Except for the Joss Whedon stuff, Marvel’s pretty much taken EVERYTHING from them via various deals: Star Wars, Conan and now Alien. Their still standing and makes good art books and clearly given Resident Alien good content, they’ve lasted this long their not going anywhere, it’s just really weird to think about. I will however give them huge credit for giving out tons of comics in early quarantine, and being easily the most generous company next to marvel. I.e. one of the few that actually gave out full collections. 

But yeah at the time this was probably a safe move as Dark Horse had a love of one shots and likely a larger budget. Hence why from here on out the stories are in living color, and have a slightly diffrent art style to boot. Granted the character would shift artists but now it’s got a clear more cartoony art style I like a lot better courtsey of Jose Garabaldi. So yeah with christmas on our heels, let’s ring a ding jing, it’s A Very Special Jingle Belle Special. 

We won’t be covering the backup for this one though it is quite good, it’s just not what kev asked or paid for. 

We open on a parade!

While batman foils the joker’s poisioning scheme, Santa rides on a float proudly and   Jing is hanging out on the back grumpy. It’s a great introduction for new readers showing Santa being big and jolly and what you expect while Jing grumps in the back with a “Sheesh, Daddy”. That’s how you establish a character well in only a few panels. IT’s really great is what i’m saying. Some teens pop up but don’t belivie her about being Santa’s daughter and when going to a christmas shop to try and find figures of her, the owner claims he dosen’t.. and well violence insues. You’ve met jing right?  Anyways Jing is understandably a wee bit absolutely livid the world dosen’t know about her. Her parents sure but her? Nope. And it’s easy to see why: She’s the daughter of the world’s most famous man.. but despite all the holiday lore and junk she’s just the part he likes to hide from people.. or that’s how it feels. While he ducks it, she even gives him a nice save fatty it’s clear that even if she brought it up to rile him a bit.. she does feel on some level like he likes to tuck her away and hide her because he’s ashamed and because she’s not perfect. Granted she does act out and stuff, but she’s still his kid and i’ts still gotta sting. Though she has the perfect idea to fix this: A christmas special. Santa suggests just doing good deeds but Jing is right: her idea is better. Mostly because, as cyncial as this is.. more people are going to pay attention to a good holiday special than a celebrity’s kid doing charity and for far longer. A good christmas special just sticks in the brain and sticks with you forever. It’s why Santa Claus is Coming to Town and A Charlie Brown Christmas have lasted decades or why my list of best chirstmas specials is pretty weighty. They just stick with you so while this can’t possibly end well.. her plan is actually a really good one this time. 

So Jing takes her friends off the line to help her animate it, stop motion styles and they remind her of her LAST christmas special. 

I mean I’m a sucker for any refrence to Star Wars Holiday Special. You’d think after several decades of jokes at it’s expense, with tons of youtubers, many of whom are dead to me but that’s besides the point, tackling the thing without it getting stale, that we’d eventually grow tired of mocking it but .. no. It’s a bottomless well of what they were thinking. The only question left is why isn’t it on Disney Plus.. I mean.. you made a second one as an affectionate parody and in lego. Kids are going to know about this now. Just put the thing up. Even edited down or just some clips. You put Rise of Skywalker up there, you’ve proven your threshold for shame when it comes to this franchise is vast. Just person up and do it.  But Jing’s learned her lesson.. stop motion only and to follow the bouncing formula to sucess. So in the special which sadly isn’t all stop motion and is just drawn to resemble the specials, probably for the best but still, Jing and her animal pals are sneaking into a town where christmas was banned! Meeting the chirstmas legion of doom.. well okay that’s what i’m calling them. Burgermeister Budweiser! Bungle the Abominable Snow Monster! Frost Master and Heat BLister! The Frost Fakir.. wait the what?

........

I mean where do I even begin? I know this was during the war on terror, I know that.. but still I expect better from Paul Dini for a crosses the line twice joke than “hey let’s just make bin laden into an ice wizard!”. I mean South Park made fun of him too, but they went all out with a looney tunes homage. Put effort in. And even years after he died the lonely island did this beautiful thing in the film pop star: never stop stoppin, which you should watch seriously watch it it’s underated. 

Point is you can do better and if you don’t have room to do better then just.. don’t. You could’ve put in a t-rex in a top hat and monocle.  That would’ve genuinely been better... because it’s better than everything ever btu that’s besides the point. There’s also one last addition to the rogue’s gallery thank god. 

He hates her too. Now that gag is actually reallyf ucking funny. What’s also funny is how she solves things. By singing a nice and frinedly song about friendship to reform the villians.. or rather lure them over a bridge to get eaten by her orca friend. 

So Jing after showing it to her dad heads to market it with him trying to warn her netoworks haven’t aired this kind of thing in years. But she faces the greatest threat to all of television: network executives, who keep offering advices and basically change the thing all together for stupid reasons and think cartoons should only be for kids despite it wokring in the past. Aka the hells animators STILL go through. I think Paul was projecting just a wee bit with this one. Given again IT HASN’T CHANGED since then, I can’t blame him. Seriously Harvey Beaks was canceled, among MANY ohter nick shows including rise of the tmnt just because it wasn’t an instant hit, Cartoon Network and warner keep trying to make dumbed down remakes of great shows, and Disney, among other networks, is fairly homophobic and while finally allowing some gay on the network this year had to be fought and outright refused it on ducktales for no adquate reason, caring more about monney and the bible belt than doing the right thing. So yeah as you can tell this bit got to me a bit and was hard to read because it. hasn’t. changed. 16 years and not a lot has changed other than more women are getting a chance. And granted the “kids are our only audiencce argument” isn’t as strong and several shows are powered by other demographics it’s still an issue and still the reason several good shows have gotten the boot and why the jeph loeb era of marvel animation was terrible. Because guys like him thought it should JUST be for kids and the lowest common demoninator of htem. You can be clever and be for kids dammit. 

I apologize slightly for that it’s just something that’s been on my mind as shows dwindle and with ducktales gone the standard forbearaers for children’s animation are all pretty fresh faced. It’s just a lot to take in and i’ts been on my mind a lot. 

Back to the actual story the result is a pretty purtrid cutesy special.. Jing reacts how you’d expect, destroying the tapes covertly with a herd of musk ox and destroying the tape. But they find the 70′s special and we end on that which is pretty funny. The only thing I really don’t like here is the ending. The rest of this special is really good: it’s clever , has some good satire and some really funny jokes especially that hook one. The ending just feels a bit weak.. like yes Jing wanted to be noticed but it’s not really an unsympathetic motive and while she does some shady stuff the villians still basically win by airing her terrible holiday special all over again. It’s just not satisfying.  But yeah overall another pretty decent holiday comic with some good jokes. I”ll probably see Jing again next year, and it was fun getting to dip into these comics. THeir not my faviorites, but their still pretty decent and if the complete collection ends up on sale on comixology or you see it in a bookstore and you think it’d be up your ally i’d buy it. Again not my faviorite thing ever, but still enjoyable enough. Coming up this week of holiday cheer: ducks, more ducks, superheroes, and a best of list. 

Until next time: Courage. 

[thisyearingaming]

1997 - This Year in Gaming

Muggins here was born in ‘97, and can’t really remember much of it, natch. But there were some good things released this year - I’ve played every one of these, and have missed so many more.

Diablo - Windows, January 3rd

We start with dungeon-crawl-em-up and well-loved out of season April Fool’s Joke, Diablo. I’ll be totally honest - I don’t like Diablo that much. It’s absolutely fine, I just can’t get into it. The writing, setting and characters are all very good especially since this year only marks the beginning of games being seen as a bit more adult and intelligent. Check out this gameplay from Hour of Oblivion on YouTube, and marvel at the faux-Scottish accent on Griswold the blacksmith.

Mario Kart 64 - Nintendo 64, February 10th

Compared to its more recent versions, Mario Kart 64 is a veritable bloody relic of the past - solid controls and a quirky style mean it’s still a crowd pleaser to this day, but you’d be hard pressed to find anyone right now that would die on the hill of it being their favourite single-player racing experience. It’s also got some of the deepest, impenetrable lore in any medium known to the human race - why exactly is Marty the Thwomp locked up here?

Blast Corps - Nintendo 64, February 28th

February’s position as most boring month of the year is shaken up a bit by having a uniquely designed Rare game slammed into its 28-day long face. Blast Corps is the puzzle-action game where you take control of several vehicles to destroy homes and buildings in order to prevent a nuclear warhead exploding in the coolest incarnation of Cold War politicking ever seen in a video game. Calling Blast Corps a “hidden gem” these days is like calling Celeste a hidden gem - it impresses nobody and makes you look like a dick. 

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter - Nintendo 64, March 4th 

The N64 was home to a surprisingly large number of above-average shooters despite its muddy graphics and small cartridge space - Turok is one of these, a great FPS game where you shoot the SHIT out of dinosaurs. Brett Atwood of Billboard said it was like Doom and Tomb Raider mixed - Doom Raider, if you will. I say it isn’t - there’s no demons, and there’s no polygonal breasts to poke dinosaurs’ eyes out with! 

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Sony PlayStation, March 20th

What is a retrospective? A miserable little pile of opinions. I’ve only recently played through SotN for the very first time on a TOTALLY LEGITIMATE copy with a CRT filter. Bloody good (geddit?) game, that takes the repetition of its predecessors, improves on it in basically every conceivable way, and combines it with special effects and graphics that even 23 years later had me going “ooh, that looks quite good!” Symphony’s music and audio design are wonderfully paired with a deeply enjoyable experience that’ll have you saying “mm, maybe just one more room?”

Tekken 3 - Sony PlayStation, March 20th

Also releasing from the Land of the Rising Sun that day was Tekken 3, which many believe is still one of the best fighters ever made. Tekken 3′s combat is so fast and responsive that it’s better than some games made today. T3 is also the best and easiest way to knock seven shades of absolute shite out of your friends without risking a massive head injury or a trip to the headmaster’s office... where you could also challenge him, but only if he plays as my favourite Not-Guile-or-Ken character in gaming, Paul. 

Sonic Jam - Sega Saturn, June 20th

The moment Sega realised that re-packaging old Mega Drive games would net them serious cash - although unlike later collections, this is a strictly Sonic affair, and has a neat little 3D world to run around in as a sort of hub world. Sonic X-Treme proved that Sonic Team would have to work hard at getting the fastest thing alive into 3D space properly: Jam is the sort of test ground for it too. It features some genuinely good emulation work for 1997, although it’s basically the gaming equivalent of going round to your grandparents at Christmas only for them to give you the exact same gifts you got in 1991, 1992 and 1994 but wrapped in a bow to make you think it’s different. What are you lookin’ at, you little blue devil?

Star Fox 64 - Nintendo 64, June 30th

So there’s this German company, right, called StarVox. Nintendo look at Europe and say “shit, we don’t want another lawsuit... after all, we’ve done three this year!”. So they give us in the PAL region the exciting title of Lylat Wars which as far as I know means absolutely fucking nothing in the context of the game. They’re still called Star Fox in-game too so what was the point? Anyway, fun 3D shooter with graphics that’ll make you do a barrel roll off the sofa and onto the power button to make the brown and green blurs a little easier on the eyes. Hello 2007, I’ve come back to make old references with you!

Carmageddon - Windows, July 30th

The game so scary it was BANNED in the UK! More like the game so fucking shit it was banned. Carmageddon is so deeply boring to play on PC that I can only imagine that Stainless Games made it tasteless by 90s standards simply to ramp up demand - much like another game we’ll be covering soon. 

Herc’s Adventures - Sony PlayStation, July 31st

“And they said Kratos was the best hero? Shish... they got it wrong, sister! Hercules is clearly better... he even has a coconut weapon.” A surprisingly fun overhead action game that most people only know for... well, I’ll just embed it.

Mega Man X4 - Sony Playstation, August 1st

A few years ago I tried playing every Mega Man game there is - I gave up at X3 because I was getting bored. Even still, Mega Man bores me - but at least the level design is good. Stay away from the Windows port. Pictured: me in the background yawning.

GoldenEye 007 - Nintendo 64, August 25th 

The name’s Intro. Overused intro which I also managed to fuck up twice through the deeply editable medium of text. GoldenEye is like the Seinfeld of console shooters - playing it nowadays you’re unlikely to be amazed but holy shit there’s some absolute greatness in this game. Every sound and every piece of music in GoldenEye is permanently seared into my brain - sometimes I’ll just hear Facility or Frigate in my head alongside the door opening sound and the gentle PEW of the PP7. I mean come on, fucking listen to this and tell me Grant Kirkhope isn’t cool as all hell.

LEGO Island - Windows, September 26th

The first open world experience I ever had was LEGO Island. It’s still quite good today, utterly deranged animation from the likes of the Infomaniac and Brickster - a cautionary tale for children that giving pizza to high-profile criminals is disastrous for the human LEGO race. 

Fallout - Windows, October 10th

War never changes, but franchises do. Fallout’s legendary status in the industry is exemplified in how different it feels. Yes, we had the game Wasteland nine years prior, but until September 97 there was nothing quite like Fallout. From the chilling introduction sequence showing the ruins of the United States to the tragic ending, Fallout is an exercise in pure human misery with the brightest spots of hope it can possibly muster thrown in for good measure. What begins as a tedious isometric point-and-click RPG ends as a minigun-wielding power fantasy, before your entire worth is stripped from you at the finish line. You have 500 days to find a water chip before it’s too late, but you’re constantly being fought by terrifying Super Mutants, irradiated animals, and the biggest monster of all - humanity. See what I did there? If anything, humanity in Fallout’s setting would be the greatest unifying force possible against the horror of the outside world. But how is it? It’s dull, it’s sluggish, and it’s really hard to get into even if you’re already a fan - but push through that and it’s worthwhile to see exactly how far the series got before Todd Howard said “eh fuck it” and had the whole thing dipped into an FEV vat.

Grand Theft Auto - Sony PlayStation, October 21st

To put it simply, the first in the GTA series is now nothing but a novelty. It has an irritating camera, wonky controls, poor graphics and deeply repetitive gameplay. But thank fuck it exists, because without it the Rockstar story may have been very different indeed. It’s quintessential cops and robbers gameplay, spanning across Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas in one game, but with maps so far removed from their modern incarnations they may as well be named “Not New York, Possibly Bristol and Orange Town”. People really fucking hated Hare Krishnas in the 20th Century, didn’t they?

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back - Sony PlayStation, October 31

A hard one to talk about, honestly - it’s more Crash and better than the first one. It looks great, and Crash controls so well compared to his first outing. It’ll also keep you playing for 100%, fiendishly addictive and unashamedly difficult. Had a weird cover that moved with your head. 

PaRappa the Rapper - Sony PlayStation, November 17th

Type type type the words into the box! (Type, type, type - uh oh - the box?)

PaRappa is a gorgeously stylised rhythm game about rapping to steal the heart of the girl of your dreams - which involves learning karate, getting your driver’s license, selling bottle caps and frogs, making a cake, desperately trying not to shit yourself, and finally performing live on stage. Every one of its segments is so well-produced that they’d genuinely sell like ghost cookies in this era of shite rap. Notable for producing the greatest Jay-Z backing track ever made.

Sonic R - Sega Saturn, November 18th

Sonic R is absolutely FINE with vibrant textures, interesting levels, neat gimmicks and decent controls. But I’m gonna talk about its fucking AWESOME soundtrack by Richard Jacques and T.J. Davis, an eclectic mix of Europop and New Jack Swing - even thinking about it is bringing tears of absolute joy to my eyes hearing Super Sonic Racing in my head. You’ve got the main theme, Living in the City, Can You Feel the Sunshine, Back in Time, Diamond in the Sky, Work It Out and Number One - all of these are absolute club bangers and genuinely wouldn’t be out of place in a 90s disco. 

Tomb Raider II - Sony PlayStation, November 18th

Lara Croft returns to single-handedly endanger every species on Earth. TR2 is really good, the exploration and puzzle-solving aspects of the first game expanded upon here and the gunplay remaining just as punchy. Lara’s got a fully-functioning ponytail which absolutely boggles the fucking mind - a lot of work went into Lara’s hair for the 2013 reboot, so I can’t imagine the amount of man hours it took to get fluid(ish, come on, it’s the PS1 we’re talking about) hair movements in 1997. 

And really, that’s all I played from 1997. I’ve left out big hitters like Quake II, Gran Turismo and Diddy Kong Racing, but I simply haven’t formed an opinion on them yet. Maybe in a future post. 

Thanks for reading.

[avengersnthings]

Forever and Always (Peter Parker x Reader)

Summary: Ever since you met Peter Parker when you were 7, your life got a lot more interesting.

Word Count: 2,397

Warnings: Mentions of bullying and death. Only a very small part, though.

A/N: This popped up into my head and I just had to write it. I was thinking about maybe doing a second part to this, but that is completely up to you guys if you want one! Well, I hope you enjoy and let me know if you would like a second part! Also, if you want to be added to my tag list just let me know.

Tag List: @mp938368 @generalantiope @thatgirlsar @jumperswellies @quicksoldier @kitkatgaming @marvelfandom-stuff @itsmaytimetosaygoodbye @agentraven007 @marvelgoateecollection @thaniya82 @thats-so-rhyan @hymnofthevalkyrie @themanwiththemetalarm @mslaufeyson @thisismysecrethappyplace

MASTERLIST

“(Y/N), these are our new neighbors,” Your mother said to you, bringing you out in front of her. The top of your head barely reached her stomach, your pigtails swaying in the wind as you gazed expectantly at the young couple before you.

“Hello (Y/N), so nice to meet you,” said the young woman who bent over to shake your tiny hand. “My name’s Mrs. Parker, but you can call me May. This is my husband, Ben.” 

You followed her hand that gestured towards the man beside her. Looking up at him, he gave a kind smile to you before reaching behind himself.

“This is our nephew, Peter,” Ben said as he tried to coax the small boy out from behind him. Peter clung onto his uncle’s pant leg, hesitating to move as he carefully peered around at you. Being a brave child, you waltzed right up to the shy one before you.

“I’m (Y/N),” You smiled a toothless grin as you thrust your hand out towards him. “I’m 7, how old are you?”

Wearily taking your hand, the small boy in glasses stepped forward. “I’m turning 8 next month.”

“That’s cool. Want to be friends?” 

Peter was shocked at your blatentness, but he shyly nodded in response to your question. Your toothless smile returned once more before you grabbed the shy little boy’s hand. “C’mon, I just got a new Lego set. We can build it together!”

You dragged him away up the stairs as the adults laughed in the background. As you showed your collection off to Peter, he couldn’t help but smile at how excited you were to be his friend. His first friend. 

________________________________________________________________

“Hey, dipshit!” Your shrill voice rang out across the playground. “Leave him alone!” 

It was 7th grade, and you just witnessed your best friend of 6 years being pushed onto the hard blacktop of the school’s playground. The bigger kid looked up in shock, his fist still gripping onto Peter’s backpack as you stomped your way over to the two of them. 

The bully quickly got over his shock once he realized who he was dealing with before a smirk settled onto his face. “What are you going to do about it?”

Before you could speak, Peter quickly interrupted you from the ground. “(Y/N), just drop it, I’m okay-”

“Okay?!” You shouted as you glance at your best friend. “This dipshit is bullying you!”

“What, you need a girl to fight your fights for you now, Parker?” The bully sneered as a crowd gathered around the three of you. 

Your vision went red as you threw down your own backpack. “That’s it!” You screamed as you tackled the bully, catching him by surprise as the crowd went wild. Peter watched on as you took down the much larger kid that had just bullied him before teachers came running to break up the fight. As they pulled you off of the bully, Peter caught your eye as you mouthed ‘you okay?’

Nodding, Peter mouthed a ‘thank you’ before he picked up his backpack that had the new Star Wars Lego kit that he had bought you for your birthday. Shouldering the heavy bag, he ran after you with a smile on his face.

________________________________________________________________

More years had passed and the two of you were now in high school. Gone were the days of braces and the embarrassing clothes of middle school. While things got slightly better, what goes up must come down.

The passing of Ben Parker hit your family hard. Your friendly neighbors who were once so cheery became morose at their sudden loss. The funeral was small, only friends and family attended. What was left of the Parker family came and shared their condolences with widowed May and her nephew, Peter. Throughout it all, you stood by your best friend of now 8 years, gently holding his hand as you tried to communicate your support with gentle squeezes. By the end of it, your makeup had run off your face as you watched the casket being lowered into the ground. 

“It’s my fault,” Peter mumbled to himself as the crowd dissipated. 

“Peter, this is not your fault. Don’t you dare blame yourself.” You turned towards Peter, looking up towards his tired and red eyes. He avoided eye contact, glancing down at the ground where his uncle now rested. 

“It is, I should’ve-” Peter started before you grabbed his face, making him look at you.

“Peter Benjamin Parker,” You sternly said as you looked him in the eye. “This is not your fault, it’s no one’s. It was a freak accident, and I know for a fact that Ben wouldn’t want you to blame yourself at all. He loved you very much and would hate to see you blame yourself, alright?”

The tears swelled in Peter’s eyes as he softly nodded. “I’m just going to miss him so much.”

For the millionth time that day, your heart broke as you pulled Peter into a hug. You had to stand on your toes to wrap your arms around is neck while his arms pulled you closer. With his head buried in your neck, you softly wove your fingers through his hair. “I know, I’m going to miss him too. But I will always be there for you, okay? Forever and always.”

Peter just nodded his head as he hugged you tighter, trying to keep you as close to him as he could. He couldn’t lose another person due to this new aspect of himself. Not again.

________________________________________________________________

“(Y/N), open up!” Peter shouted through the wooden door as his fist repeatedly slammed on the frame. “This is an emergency! Code red!”

Swinging the door open, Peter pushed his way into your home like many times before. “Peter, what’s going on?”

“No time to explain, going to Germany. Do you have my hoodie?” He asked as he darted towards your bedroom. Quickly following him, you were met with Peter nearly destroying your room.

“Hey! I just cleaned!” You protested as he began to go through your closet. “And what do you mean you’re going to Germany?”

“Aha!” Peter exclaimed as he pulled the red hoodie from your closet. Just as he turned to walk out your bedroom, your hand pushed him onto your bed. 

“Hold on, time out,” You said making a ‘T’ with your hand. “Now, explain.”

Peter’s leg bounced up and down in response before he sprung back up to his feet. “No time to explain, family emergency. I’ll call you when I land!” Rushing past you once more, only stopping for a nanosecond to slightly hug you, he was out the door just as soon as he came in. 

You looked down at your now destroyed bedroom before clenching your teeth. “There’s something you’re not telling me, Parker.”

Exasperated, you fell onto your bed when you felt something hard underneath you. Confused and annoyed, you reached beneath you and closed your hand on a small, cylindrical container. Holding it to the light, the fluid within it shone an iridescent white. Eyebrows furrowing, you stuck the small container in your jeans pocket as you went to clean up your room once more, with full intent on interrogating your best friend when he gets back.

________________________________________________________________

It had been two months since Peter had come back from his mysterious “family emergency” in Germany, and you still hadn’t brought up what you found. In that short amount of time, things became weird between the two of you. Peter had begun disappearing at random times, only to show up a couple of hours later covered in bruises and cuts. Every time you tried to question him, he would just give you the same excuse of the Stark Internship. Frankly, you were pretty sure that this whole internship was made up. After one afternoon specifically, when you found another small container near his locker, you decided that you were going to question him.

Just as you were about to knock on his apartment door, Aunt May swung it open. “Oh, (Y/N)! You scared me.”

“Hi, May, is Peter home?”

“He’s in his room,” She waved absentmindedly behind her. “Said to not disturb him because he was working on something for Ton- I mean, Mr. Stark. So, I’m going shopping. You need anything?”

“No, I’m fine,” You said distracted as you peered around her. “You mind if I-?”

“Go right ahead. If you ask me, he’s been spending too much time on that internship. He needs a break.”

“That, we both can agree on,” You smiled at May as she waved goodbye before you walked straight for his door. You tried the doorknob but it was locked, a sure sign that something was definitely up. “Peter! Open this door right now!”

Behind the door, Peter jumped at the sound of your voice. He was currently in his spidey-suit with a screwdriver in his mouth as he tried to fix his left web-shooter. “Not right now, (Y/N)! I’m busy with my internship, I’ll come over later!”

Your eyes narrowed at his response. “Peter, I know something is up. In the almost ten years that we have been best friends, we have never lied to each other. So why are you lying to me now?” You asked as you rolled one of the small containers under the door. 

Peter’s eyes grew wide once he saw the web fluid. The screwdriver promptly fell out of his mouth, clattering to the floor as you continued. 

“I found this on my bed two months ago before you randomly left for Germany, and then another one this afternoon near your locker.” Rolling the other canister under the door, you paused as you placed your head against the wooden frame. “I know you’ve been busy with this internship, if it even is an internship, but I’m worried about you. You keep disappearing at random times, and then appearing again a few hours later all beat up. I need you to be honest with me, Peter, because friends don’t lie. Especially best friends.”

Silence soon followed as Peter’s emotions raged within himself. On the one hand, he needed to keep Spider-Man a secret; but on the other, you were his best friend, whom he had started to grow feelings for, and he hated not being able to share everything with you like he used to. Glancing down at the red and blue suit that clung to his body, he let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding in as he moved towards the door. “(Y/N), I’ll let you in, but I need you to promise me something. You can’t tell anyone.”

“I promise,” You said as you grabbed the door knob. “I’m with you, forever and always.” As soon as the lock clicked, you turned the knob, stepping into his room where you were met with Spider-Man. “HOLY-”

“Shhh!” Peter clamped his gloved hand over your mouth as your wide eyes stared at him. “I need you to not freak out, okay? Can you do that for me?” He didn’t let go of you until you nodded. As soon as you could move your mouth again, you launched into a million questions.

“You’re Spider-Man? Or do you just cosplay him? Please tell me you’re not cosplaying him, because it would be really cool if my best friend was a superhero.”

Peter managed to let out a laugh at your excitement before responding. “Yes, I’m Spider-Man, but it’s really not that big of a deal-”

“Not that big of a deal?!” You interrupted, grabbing his gloved hands. “You’re a superhero, like Captain America, or Thor, or-” Your eyes went wide at your next thought. “Is this the Stark Internship? Are you working for Iron-Man? Do you know Iron-Man?!”

“Yes, I know Iron-Man. Mr. Stark actually found out about me and he needed my help in Germany fighting Captain America and that’s why I left-”

“You fought Captain America?” You interrupted once more, eyes growing even wider. 

Peter brushed off the question with a wave of his hand. “Yes, I stole his shield, but that’s not the point. The point is, is that I am Spider-Man, I have been since Uncle Ben pretty much, but you can’t tell anybody. Especially Aunt May.”

The room fell silent as Peter waited for your answer, but he was just met with a dazed look. This is just what he feared, that you wouldn’t want to be his friend anymore, that he ruined your friendship turning into something more, that you never wanted to see him again. Just as he started to freak out, your voice brought him back to reality.

“So you didn’t get contacts?”

Peter blinked twice before bursting out in laughter at your ridiculous question. He had just told you he was a superhero, and this was your first calm and legitimate question you asked him?

“No, I didn’t. Ever since the spider bite, a lot has changed.”

“You’re telling me,” You huffed out as you laid down on his bed. “I thought you didn’t want to be my friend anymore, with all your disappearances.”

“Not want to be your friend? Are you kidding me?” Peter asked in shock before he pulled you back up so you were eye-level with him. “(Y/N), you are my absolute best friend, forever and always. If I didn’t want to be your friend anymore, I would be completely insane. And trust me, as crazy as this whole situation is, I’m not insane.” Silence followed his words as he shyly looked at you before proceeding. “Do you still want to be my friend?”

“Of course, you idiot,” You smiled before you knocked your shoulder against his. “A little spider bite isn’t going to get between me and you. I’m with you, forever and always.”

Heart swelling at your words, Peter engulfed you in a hug as his heart thudded quickly in his chest. Even though his world had completely turned upside down, the one constant in his life had been you, his best friend. “C’mon, how about we order some pizza and binge watch movies. I could use a normal night not filled with crime-fighting.”

“You and me both, Spidey,” You grinned before pulling him up by the arm and dragging him into your apartment, just like you did all those years ago.

[vedj-f-bekuesu]

I need to actually stick to what I say for once.

I was going to do S2 on Monday, but then I got the realisation that after watching NS12, I was already running out of things to do. So, I did it tonight, and it’s...certainly an eclectic collection of thoughts. Hmph.

-The biggest point I have, and one I think really damages the season, is the pacing. You can tell the writers were aware that Ninjago was going to be cancelled (indeed, it was actually cancelled for a year) so they jammed two seasons’ story into one season. As a result, the last...say, five episodes are pretty strong since it seems the story beats were fairly set in stone (heh), but it takes over half the season to get there and before that you have some pretty meh writing. I know they didn’t exactly have full control over that, so bear in mind I am aware of this and assume I’m giving some leeway for it where appropriate, although I will still criticise it. -Lloyd Montgomery "For Fucks Sake Stop Grounding Me" Garmadon is the best character in this season. However, the fact we spent just seven episodes with young green Ninja Lloyd is a waste of an idea in hindsight.  -Skales remains an MVP before he’s written out of the story.  -I see now that S2 Garmadon is the basis for Movie Garmadon because he was great, and it was especially hilarious watching him bounce off his boring pilot self. -Wu is still the worst character. I’m sorry, he was bad enough when he was being too harsh on four teens, Lloyd is one kid and Wu is already like “I’m shoving the weight of the world on your shoulders”. Fuck you Wu. -The non-elemental parents do no get enough due credit. Ed, Edna and Lou are all great in their own way, and Doctor Julien is a badass considering he’s on death’s door.  -And yes, this does mean I like S2 Misako overall. She’s a victim of the rushed pacing though; her motive for leaving Lloyd at Darkley’s could have been way more smooth if she just had five seconds longer to speak, like “I left him to go and research the prophecy...and make sure the dark forces would not attack him”. You could answer at least three potential hangups with those few extra words. Otherwise, the idea of old regrets is one with potential, and it’s handled pretty well here. I am aware it gets fucked up later, but what else is new. -The bizarro ninja are about as good as early Archie Evil Sonic. Which means they’re terrible. Hopefully they don’t show up again.  -Wow, Captain Soto is an early one! I’m glad his contribution to the season actually had serious ramifications. -I like the way the first part of the season built up the new civilian cast, even if most were unnamed. Started to really give life outside the ninja, something season 1 was short of. Also Dareth wasn’t that great at first, but the mini-arc he had warmed me up to him.  -Nya...existed. Outside of being turned evil and using Samurai X once this was not her season. Kai used Samurai X more than her, even! -I don’t know how to vocalise my thoughts on the main four, their treatment was erratic. For the first eight episodes they were honestly pretty weak, basically being shoved into the mentor role and not being given much material beyond that. Jay managed to just about counter that with his obnoxious personality (actually acting as a positive rather than a negative). Zane doesn’t counter it, but because he’s generally like that anyway he adapts well to it. Kai and Cole suffer for it. I know I didn’t like them in S1 due to being abrasive and not my thing at all, but now they’re basically the other extreme; revolving around their mentor role, taking out a lot of the personality. All of this is probably because of said rushed pace so they had to get them as mentors lickety split. Then five episodes from the end the story’s like “Whoops, we left the personality nodes off, let’s just switch them back on” and suddenly all four of them were improved. Zane had his own arc to go through, Jay was electric, and Cole was apparently just unleashing the energy not used in the first half (How did we go from him being so stoic to doing the Moonwalk over Stone Soldiers???). Even Kai got moments back, and it finally genuinely felt like he’d become protective of Lloyd without it being forced in by the plot needs.  -Jaya has a bit of a stumble in S2 thanks to Double Trouble (thanks for nothing, Bizarro Ninja), but overall it’s still cute.  -Whoever said that the Stone Army isn’t treated with any comedic elements is a filthy liar. Even the Overlord got sassy at one point.  -The plot ends up being an overt Star Wars homage and I am okay with this. -I should have mentioned this with the first season but I hope the once-an-episode slow-down bits stop soon. The choreography of the fighting has improved though!

So overall? I honestly have pretty mixed feelings towards this season. In terms of quality it’s more consistent than S1, but at the same I feel it’s brought down more, mainly because of that omnipresent pacing issue. The last five episodes suffer less from it, but that is far too late to be kicking in. Not that the first part is bad, but you can tell they’re skimming content to get to the good stuff. That being said, said good stuff is good. 

I want to add a little extra though, because the way it ends only makes me more conscious of how the next few seasons take the story. The story here does feel like an ending point, and that was fine for the time. But hindsight has shown that this was not the case, and there’s definitely some corners that have been written into. So with that, I can at least understand why the Hagemans and Andreason might have thought at the time that creating new drama for all the main characters (that weren’t Lloyd because he needed a rest) was the best way to try and give themselves an out. But man, there are going to be moments where I am gonna legit fume (there’s a moment in S2 that makes the upcoming love triangle so much worse, and I think the bit I’m dreading the most now is actually Kai’s green Ninja drama in S4). 

Also poor Lloyd get schtick for hogging the limelight, when it seems in most instances it’s been circumstances that did that. S2 was trying to rush its story so it had to focus on Lloyd to tell it, and S8 was probably LEGO’s way of continuing the film inertia, and it just happened to be an arc that needed three seasons to resolve due to the way it was structured. For once, S11 is the most guilty since that one didn’t need to be Lloyd. 

Okay, so next up whenever I decide to do it are Rebooted and Tournament of Elements...oh joy...at least all the seasons are shorter this time.

[eeyore101247]

Are You Trying To Kill Us?!

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Roommate AU Prompt: New roommate cooks alone for the first time and almost burns down the house (@americanbeautiies)

Warnings: Fluff, fluff, and more fluff

1,541 words

Masterlist

You groaned as you looked over your scattered notes and lab data sheets. You had a major lab due soon, and you were struggling to get it typed up. Nothing seemed to make sense in your data, and it didn’t seem to support your hypothesis, no matter how many times you rewrote it. Maybe you just weren’t approaching it right, or maybe you were looking at it all wrong. After 5 hours of staring blankly at the numbers and words littering the pages, you had come no closer to a resolution.

Your pencil snapped underneath your stressed grip, and you cursed under your breath. Dropping the broken pieces, you sighed, running your fingers through your (Y/H/C) hair, messing it up even further. You were getting nowhere with your work, and it was only frustrating you more. It didn’t exactly help that in the last hour, your new roommate had decided to start banging around pots and pans in the kitchen.

You groaned as a particularly loud thud came from down the hall. You buried your face in your hands; you didn't even want to know what Peter was up to. There was something weird about him, but ever since your last roommate just sorta disappeared, you needed help with the rent. Within a week of putting up a post, Peter Parker had showed up at your door with a sheepish smile on his face, stuttering over his words as he asked if the offer was still open.

It had been a crazy couple months since he had moved in. He was rarely around, always sneaking into the apartment in the dead of night. You swore you heard him talking to himself occasionally when you walked past his room. On the days he was home, he would be rushing to get homework or studying done. Sometimes, you were able to convince him to stay home and watch movies for a night so the two of you could relax. Those nights were always fun and where you really got to know the adorably nerdy dork you lived with. Your favorite nights were the ones where the two of you would stay up late trying to binge watch all the Star Wars movies. You always managed to fall asleep halfway through, but Peter never seemed to mind. 

One time, you had faked it, having been curious how you always ended up in your bed. As you laid across the couch, pretending to be asleep, you heard Peter start to make a comment then stop. A soft chuckle came from him, the sound of the movie coming to a stop as his presence on the couch disappeared. It wasn’t long before you felt his arms slide under your back and knees, gently picking you up bridal style and carrying you to your bedroom. Your mind raced, wondering if he did this every time you fell asleep during movie nights. You soon felt the softness of your bed, and the warmth of his arms disappeared as he pulled away. You stayed still and waited for the sound of your door shutting, but you had to suppress a shutter when you felt a soft pair of lips press against your forehead. Peter mumbled a soft 'goodnight' before his footsteps left and the door shut behind him.

You were pulled out of your thoughts by the high pitched sound of the smoke alarm and the scent of smoke filling your nose. Eyes wide, you quickly pushed away from your desk, hurrying to the kitchen to see what was happening. You heard the clash of pots, followed by muttered curses and the sound of something being sprayed. As you round the corner, you saw Peter standing in the kitchen, fire extinguisher in hand as he sprayed it at the flames that consumed whatever was in the pan.

“Peter! Are you trying to kill us?!” You yelled as you ran into the kitchen, grabbing a dish towel and trying to smother the flames since the extinguisher didn’t seem to be working. You managed to put out the fire, releasing a breath you didn’t know you were holding. In the pan, sat the remnants of a pancake, though by the smell, something hadn’t been right with the batter to begin with. With a sigh, you brought your attention to the batter mixture to your left, leaning over and giving it a sniff.

Yep, something is definitely not right with that batter.

You bite back a gag as you turned around to face Peter. His head hung as he stared at the floor sheepishly. A trail of bright red led from the tips of his ears down across his cheeks. You could tell he was embarrassed by the way his shoulders hunched forward like many of the other times you’d caught him in weird situations. You let out a sigh, walking over and giving him a smile.

“It’s fine Peter. You were trying to do something nice. I get it.” You said softly, resting your hand on his shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze. He relaxed under your touch, letting out a breath before looking up at you.

“So you aren’t mad at me for almost burning down the apartment?” He asked softly, his gaze hopeful and pleading. He looked similar to a sad puppy, pleading for forgiveness from its owner. You crumbled beneath that look, shaking your head slightly as you dropped your hand back to your side.

“I’m not mad Pete. What matters is that you and I are both ok.” You said with a smile, turning around and starting to clean up the mess. You heard Peter scramble behind you to help, quickly picking up the ruined batter and dumping it in the trash. 

“Wanna just get take out?” You asked, looking over at him with a smile. He gave a small nod, his gorgeous brown eyes meeting yours. 

“Yea, um, sure.” He stuttered, giving you a goofy smile before focusing on helping you clean. You couldn’t help but smile at his adorably dorky personality, remembering all the Star Wars stuff in his room. Several action figures and other collectibles always littered his room, his collection ever growing as he start collecting Funko Pop figures. His Lego Death Star he said he built with his best friend Ned, sat securely propped up on his large desk, the Millenium Falcon decorating the other side.

You watched out of the corner of your eye as he wiped his hands off on a Star Wars towel he got off Amazon, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “Pizza?”

“Pizza sounds good.” 

He nodded in response, dialing the number and walking off, putting in your order. You watched him walk off, admiring the toned muscles in his back that you could see through his shirt. For as dorky of a guy he was, he was extremely fit and good looking. One of the many reasons you had fallen for your roommate. You would never admit that secret though, knowing he would never feel the same way about you. 

You knew plenty of his secrets, though it was by complete accident. He didn’t know you knew though, having only caught him when his back was turned or he was too distracted. You knew how much he missed his aunt, having caught him looking at her picture several times. You’d also caught him doing impressions of the Avengers in a mirror, which always caused you to giggle. You’d also seen a lycra suit in his laundry one day, but you didn’t say anything. Of course, it explained his late nights and sudden disappearances. It also explained his fast reflexes whenever you tripped over your own feet. 

You remembered one particular spill you'd taken not too long ago - one that had changed how you felt for the adorable brunette. You were returning home after a particularly long day. Your bag had broke, leaving you to carry all of your textbooks and folders in your arms. By the time you had reached your apartment, your arms ached and legs shaking a bit from having to stabilize all this weight without the support of the handrail. You had managed to finagle the door open, gently pushing it further with your foot as you stepped in, but with your luck, you stumbled over one of your shoes sitting by the door, your books tumbling out of your arms and to the floor. You squeezed your eyes shut, expecting the painful collision with the hardwood floor, but it never came. Instead, you had felt two strong arms wrap around your waist, catching you before you could fall to the floor. The strong scent of a familiar cologne had filled your nostrils, heart fluttering in your chest as his warmth soaked through to your very core.

You let out a sigh as you set the now clean dishes in the cabinet, turning around and smiling as you saw Peter sitting on the couch, heart fluttering in your chest.

You had fallen in love with Spider-Man, and didn’t know what the hell to do about it. But padding across the living room to plunk down next to him on the couch seemed like a pretty good place to start.

AN: Ahhhhhh! This is has been sitting in my finished work for a while and I’ve been kinda hesitant about posting it, but here it is! Thank you so much Carrie (@spidey-waffles11) and Anna (@softspideyboy) for betaing this!

Thank you for reading!

~ LoLo *^-^*

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[spideymjlove]

Avengers’ Complex - Requested

It was a hot day in New York, temperatures never seeming to drop no matter what time of day it was. Michelle found herself having to fan herself with her boyfriend’s finished math worksheet as she and Peter rode in the backseat of Happy’s SUV. Even though Happy had the air conditioning on high, the two teens were more than ready to get into the large building that they could see about a half a mile away. 

“Now you’re positive they’re okay with you bringing your girlfriend here, Pete? I’m not breaking any rules by driving you two, am I?” Happy questioned for what felt like the hundredth time since Peter and Michelle had first entered the vehicle at Midtown High School. “‘Cause knowing Sam, he’s not gonna be too pleased if--”

“They’re fine with it, Happy.” Peter quickly cutoff, biting his inner cheek and cursing at himself mentally for lying. “You can just drop us off at the entrance--if that’s cool.” 

“Fine with me. I’ve gotta head to Pep’s place to babysit Morgan for her while she’s at the tower.” Happy replied as he drove the SUV up to the front doors of the Avengers’ complex. He pressed on the breaks, making Peter and Michelle jolt slightly, before putting the vehicle in park mode. “Alright, have fun. I’ll pick Michelle and you up at six, and no later.” 

“Um, I go by MJ.” Michelle corrected quietly as she and Peter opened their doors and began to climb out of the SUV. 

“Oh, sorry, forgot.” Happy apologized sincerely. 

Once on their feet outside, Michelle and Peter waved goodbye to Happy as he drove off. A few moments passed of the teens watching the SUV disappear, before Peter took Michelle’s hand and offered her a smile. “You’re gonna love it here. It’s super cool.” 

“As long as it’s air conditioned, I’ll be happy.” Michelle practically panted, walking up the steps with Peter and opening the large glass door, frowning when it felt warmer inside the building than it did outside. “I thought you said this place was fancy.” 

“It is! I guess the Avengers haven’t put on the air conditioning yet.” 

“It’s evening.” 

“So?”

“Sooooo they should have it on. It feels like this place is on fire, eating away at out flesh and guts.” Michelle stated bitterly, following Peter down the hall and furrowing her eyebrows when he seemed to stop in his tracks repeatedly. It took her a few seconds to piece two and two together, and couldn’t help but widen her eyes at him when he glanced at her. “They don’t know I’m here, do they?” 

“Well, not exactly--no, no they don’t.” Peter confessed, running a hand through his curls with a huff. He took a moment to try to detect any sounds nearby, happy to report that he didn’t hear any after a little while of intense listening. “Sweet, I think they’re out. That’s probably why the air isn’t on yet.” 

“Cool, so what was it you wanna show me?” Michelle asked patiently, hands in her jacket pockets and blowing her hair out of the side of her face from her ponytail. 

“Oh right, follow me!” Peter grinned, running further down the hall and making a sharp turn to the right, sneakers squeaking on the hard flooring. Not wasting a second, he bolted to the closet of the rather cluttered room, opening the door and reaching his arms to the top shelf, taking out a cardboard box with the words ‘Star Wars’ on it. He chuckled when he saw Michelle enter the room herself, her dark eyes widening all the more at what she saw. “This is my room that they made for me. Well, Mr. Stark gave it to me before...well, you know…” 

“I can tell. Lots of Star Wars and Legos.” Michelle nodded her head slowly, taking notice of the Lego constructed playsets and Star Wars posters hanging from the walls on each side of the room. She staggered back in surprise when Peter pressed the cardboard box he was holding to her chest, wanting her to take it, which she did by instinct. “What’s this?” 

“The figures I wanted to show you! They’re vintage.” Peter explained excitedly, taking out a Yoda and Stormtrooper figure. “Someone left the Yoda one in the dumpster down the street from my apartment. Can you believe that? These things are so old! They should be kept in glass cases if you ask me, but I’m not rich, so I can’t afford that.” 

Michelle couldn’t help but laugh out loud at her boyfriend, finding his enthusiasm quite humorous. “So let me get this straight: You snuck me to the Avengers’ complex so you could show me your Star Wars figures?” 

“Yeah, plus I wanted you to see all my Legos Ned and I have built throughout the years--I would have transported them to the apartment, but I didn’t wanna take a chance on breaking any of them--”

“You’re such a dork.” Michelle giggled fondly, setting the box of Star Wars figures down on the floor and pecking Peter on the cheek lovingly. “But somehow I still love you.” 

“Well well well, what do we have here?” 

Peter and Michelle whipped their heads to the doorway, hearts beating fast when they saw Clint staring at them with a smile. He took a few steps forward, chuckling when Peter and Michelle stepped back a little. “Relax, I’m not here to yell at you two or anything. I’m just surprised Peter brought a girl here. Especially without asking permission.” Clint explained casually, glancing at Peter, who looked down at his shoes. 

“He was worried you wouldn’t say yes--he just wants to show me his Legos and Star Wars stuff.” Michelle defended matter of factly, swallowing thickly when Wanda, Sam, and Rhodey appeared behind Clint, all wearing slightly confused expressions as they stared at her and Peter. “My name is Michelle, but people call me MJ.” 

“Well it’s very nice to meet you, MJ. Are you a friend of Peter’s?” Rhodey asked, walking past Clint and taking out his hand for Michelle to shake, which she did quickly. “Or are you two more than that?” 

“She’s, she’s my girlfriend--” Peter began, cheeks becoming flushed when Clint made an ooing sound. “We’ve been dating for a few months--ever since the trip to Europe I told you guys about.” 

“I like her.” Wanda spoke up, crossing her arms and staring at Michelle, as if analyzing her. “She’s strong. I can tell.” 

“Sometimes stronger than Spider-Man.” Michelle teased, giggling when Peter casted a small glare her way. 

“Oh wow, those are strong words. Wanda’s right about you.” Sam agreed, shaking Michelle’s hand with a smile before looking at Peter, who was staring at him worriedly. “Next time, just ask. We trust you, which means we know you won’t bring someone bad in here.” 

“Thank you, and I’m sorry. I promise I’ll ask from now on. I guess I was just too excited to show her my collectibles--”

“They are quite impressive, I will admit.” Clint replied fondly, glancing about the teen’s bedroom before turning around on his heels, the rest of the Avengers following behind him. “Let’s let Peter finish showing his collection while we fix the air conditioning. I’m burning up.” 

Once Peter knew they were gone, he turned to Michelle--though furrowing his eyebrows in confusion when he didn’t see her. “MJ?” He asked, smiling when he saw her laying in his bed, one thin blanket over her. “I thought you were hot. Why do you have a blanket on?” 

“‘Cause my pants are off, dork. Sweatpants are not the best thing to wear when it’s over a hundred degrees.” Michelle explained casually, pointing at her black sweatpants, which were in a pile on the floor against the bed frame. “Show me the Legos.” 

“Oh, right! Um, let’s start with the Death Star.” Peter decided, running to the other end of the room and grabbing the large Lego piece with both arms, carrying it to the bed. “Ned and I built this together a while ago.” He explained, sitting down beside Michelle and holding the piece so that his girlfriend could take a good look at it. “See how many pieces we had to put together? It took us a long time, but we did it, and Ned and I agree that this was the best one we have ever built.” 

“That’s pretty neat.” Michelle admitted, laying her head on Peter’s shoulder and watching as he slowly spun the circular Lego piece so she could see and admire every angle. “It’s cool. Like, really cool.”

“Yeah, Ned and I are proud.” Peter said, setting the Death Star on the side table carefully before glancing down at Michelle, whose head was still on his shoulder. “So, you want a tour of the place? I don’t wanna bore you with my stuff--”

“I don’t have pants on, and I refuse to put them back on until they fix the air conditioning.” Michelle stated simply, giggling when Peter gave a small snort of laughter. “Oh my gosh, you sound like a pig!” 

“I’m sorry, you’re just really funny.” Peter chuckled, kissing the top of Michelle’s head lovingly, inhaling the scent of her shampoo in her hair before pulling back, “So, you wanna watch a movie maybe then?” 

“Depends. What are our options?” 

“Star Wars, um, uh…..” Peter struggled to think of any more movies he happened to have on DVD, realizing that he most likely didn’t have any more for now. “I think that’s all I have...sorry.” 

“I like the one with the Teddy Bears.” Michelle replied, snickering when she succeeded in annoying Peter, his gaze turning into one of shock and hurt. “Relax Parker, I know they’re called Ewoks. Let’s watch that one.” 

Peter jumped off the bed, grabbing the DVD from his closet and walking to the large TV at the front of the bed, turning it on and setting the movie up. Michelle couldn’t help but admire the way Peter seemed to always be so much more excited and joyful when he was around her, and even more so when they watched his favorite movie series together.

[captainignatiuspigheart]

When I first saw the Child at the end of the first episode in The Mandalorian I was delighted, and very possibly in love. Disney managed the incredible feat of keeping the world from revealing that a baby Yoda was the show’s star, or at least it did for those watching Disney+ in the US. Thankfully I’d been watching along too, otherwise I’d have been unable to avoid the spoilers in the months before it became available in the UK and elsewhere. I’m so glad I did!

One of the most intriguing aspects of having maintained this spoiler-free state is that for months there’s no official baby Yoda merch. This isn’t surprising as licensing tends to result in tonnes of leaked images and spoilers, particularly for LEGO. Right now we won’t get a proper LEGO version of the Child till September when he becomes available only in the £119.99 set of The Razor Crest. At 120 quid, that’s a bit steep for a baby Yoda. It’s an expensive set, even by LEGO Star Wars standards, at 12p per brick. The Razor Crest looks OK, but as with many Star Wars sets it’s a big grey lump and doesn’t excite me much. In the gaping absence of official baby Yodas (because a pluralised “the Childs” just sounds weird), China’s bootleg factories have gone into overdrive. Collecting them has become a slight obsession… 

Basic Childs (see, reads horribly.)

The first one popped up quickly on eBay, before, I think we had any sight of the future LEGO version. It’s a basic (and quickly done) repaint of the existing LEGO babies mould (fucking creepy things), with ears stuck on. It’s not terrible, and is quite cute. His “basicness” feels a little like something LEGO might actually do. The little mini capes flap around quite annoyingly till you press them down firmly. He was my first, so he feels kinda special… he cost £2.95 with a Mandalorian minifigure at the end of January.

Number two popped up a week later. The body is identical, as are the pair of capes, one rectangular on the front and a rounded version on the back. This time he’s got a rather nicely sculpted head, much like the official LEGO Yoda, but scaled down and up-cuted. He was a bargain at £1.65! With the immovable arms I figured he was pretty close to what we’d end up with. 

The Child #1

The Child #2

With Trash Baby for comparison

Yoda Evolution

If there was one thing missing, it was the iconic space pram that baby Yoda follows Mister Shiny Helmet around in. I’d been looking at a few ways to build one, but then was spared by China coming through once again.  Number three cost a bit more – the bank-breaking sum of £3.99, but finally came with his little carriage.  Along with the space pram came a complete re-design. This chap’s larger, more lime green, and waaaaay angrier-looking. Clearly tired of LEGO’s somewhat freaky babies, this little chap has moveable arms (and indeed hands that plug into the wrist holes like regular minifigures) with a nice scarf accessory. The pram is quite neatly done, if a bit loose in its fitting. There’s an antistud on the base and four studs inside to choose whether you want the lid to close when the child is inside or not. I think it’s rather good, and although he is very angry, I find him rather adorable. The pram is of course MASSIVE though, as you can see when hes hanging out with Mando. Note that the first pic with Mando below is the official Din Djarin figure, and the second is the newer bootleg version with shiny beskar armour.

The Child #3

Poseable!

OK components

Hello!

Sleep tight.

Then It Got… Hideous

At this point I lost all power to not buy these things. The next two that popped up showed up in mid April, just a few days after space pram boy. They were of somewhat lesser quality, but I was committed. First up, Child number three. He’s a repaint of the usual LEGO (knock-off mould) Yoda figure with mini-legs, and larger eyes literally coloured with marker pen, as far as I can tell, since they started rubbing off immediately. The head is also hard and spiky at the back, y’know, like Yoda’s… On the other hand, they’ve put some effort into the design, adding clothing patterns to all sides of the minifig body, legs and arms, which rather endears him to me more. This chap was the princely sum of £3.49!

And then this one happened. It looks OK at a distance, but close up or next to anything else and he’s a freak monster. This chap’s completely unarticulated, and he’s pretty much a single lump of horrifying plastic. But he does come with a mug, enabling him to empty his bone broth on the ground… Bizarrely for his outlandish size, he is still intended for LEGO system, four studs wide and three deep, allowing him to fit onto other plates with ease. Looks like he’s had a few too many plates of something. This monster was also £3.49, and I feel I’ve been repaid with nightmares.

Aaaaargh!

Kill it with fire

Wait, You Must, for Good Things There Are 

Just a week later (I know, I know, this is getting ridiculous), possibly the best little dude ever appeared! For £3.95 (someone on eBay’s definitely seen me coming…). This little guy gives me the same feeling I did when the Mandalorian rescued baby Yoda from the Empire: intense fuzziness. He’s a bit bigger, but they’ve done a lovely job moulding his head to be super-appealing. He’s a smarter construction too – a regular size minifigure body, albeit with little custom arms and hands that can’t hold anything, plugged into a neat, um, I don’t know what to call this… body socket? with a ruff on top. Size-wise he feels more like the usual LEGO difference between an adult and child character, with lots of very nice detailing. Goddamn, he’s adorable.    

The Child #6

In Semi-Conclusion…

Obviously number six is the best all-round, but how close are any of them to what LEGO has planned? Honestly, I’m a little disappointed. Clearly, he fits into the usual LEGO sizing and design scheme, and has lovely big eyes and cute face, but after seeing so many other versions, I’m not that into him. I’ll almost certainly pick up a copy of him split out from the Razor Crest set.

Official LEGO

The Child #2

The Child #6

You’ll be extremely unsurprised that I’ve got at least another two on the way… though they’re mostly for their space pram variants! I think the whole thing is a fascinating example of what happens when they’re a gap in licensing, and I’m oddly inspired by the resulting creativity.

I’ll do another post like this when I receive the others, and another one comparing the Mandolorian designs for Din Djarin himself. Do you have a favourite? Let me know!

Bootlego Baby Yodas – I’ve been obsessed with collecting knock-off versions of the Child, waiting for official The Mandalorian LEGO to come out! Showcase time (warning, some are hideous!) #LEGO #mando #thechild #mandalorian https://wp.me/pbprdx-8Ff When I first saw the Child at the end of the first episode in The Mandalorian 

[thwippyparker]

Try To Fix You- Chapter 3

Masterlist

Read Chapter 1, Chapter 2

Read Chapter 4,  Chapter 5

Feel free to comment, like, or share this if you want to be added to a tag list, or you can add yourself HERE. Enjoy!!

Eventual Peter x Reader, Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, ANGST

**************************************************************************

After Peter gave his statement to Detective Stacy, it was your turn. You couldn’t tell if you were more anxious about seeing May, Ned, MJ, and Betty again or the fact that you had to talk to yet another cop in less than 24 hours. You were beyond mentally drained by all of this, but you still had so much to do, which was also affecting your anxiety. You had to stop your interview several times with the detective, for fear that you may end up having an anxiety attack or vomit from all of the stress, anxiety, and lack of an honest meal. When you were done talking the detective left you alone for a few minutes, saying he’d be waiting outside. He knew as well as you did that you had to collect yourself for a few minutes, but for different reasons. 

He probably figured you were going to fall apart, where in reality you just weren’t sure what you were going to face on the other side of the door. “What if no one showed up? Sure, I would still have Peter to help move the stuff but I couldn’t ask him to do all that, he’s already doing so much for me,” you thought. “But what if they do. It’ll be so awkward. And I’m sure Peter hasn’t explained to MJ why I’m moving in or even that I’m moving in, what with everything happening so fast. I know if I was his girlfriend I’d be pissed off that a girl he used to be in love with was moving in with him before I was. This would all be so much easier if I would’ve called instead of texted. I just can’t face all of them. I hurt them so much, I’m sure none of them will forgive me.”

Just then you heard a knock at the door, your breath catching in your throat. “Y/n, is it alright if I come in for a minute?” Peter’s voice asked, muffled. You felt like you could breathe again, knowing it was just him and not the detective with bad news or anyone you had texted trying to force you out of the room. You went to open the door, and saw Peter’s face tilted against the frame. You opened the door all the way and gestured for him to come in before shutting the door behind him, afraid someone else would come in. You both sat on the edge of the bed, neither wanting to break the quiet tension. Peter then cleared his throat and spoke first.

“Are you gonna come out soon? If not, we can pack up all the stuff we know is yours and I’ll send you pictures on the things we have questions on. You don’t have to come with us if you don’t feel ready or you worry it’ll trigger something in you.”

You shook your head and in this moment, you couldn’t be more grateful that somehow in life you ended up with Peter Parker of all people as your best friend. You were picking at a hangnail, trying to think of how to phrase the next thing you were going to say before deciding to just blurt it out. If it came out in moron, so be it, because Peter had always been able to decipher what you meant when your words did  come out that way. 

“What if they all hate me for how I treated you and them? It wasn’t me, well it was technically me but it wasn’t me me that pushed you all away. What if they don’t understand why I did what I did? What if they just want to pity me because I’m weak and they hate that they ever associated with someone so weak that they were abused for a year and a half by their partner? And what if MJ gets mad at me, I mean, I wouldn’t be too thrilled with my boyfriend inviting an old crush to move in with him without so much as a conversation between us.” You babbled without so much as taking a breath, barely registering the way Peter bristled at the mention of MJ and his relationship.

He grabbed your hands and started rubbing the top of them, trying to get you to stop picking at yourself. “Hey, no one hear will hate you, pity you, or think any less of you just because Harry is a controlling, abusive, manipulative prick, okay? If anything that reflects on him and his family for allowing him to end up like that. The people that are here care and yeah, it may take time to get to where all these relationships used to be before him but that doesn’t mean you stop trying. You stopped contact with them because you love them and wanted to keep them safe. If they can’t understand that and see how much strength it took to do that and to leave, then you don’t need them and neither do I. Understand?”

You nodded and tried not to cry again, but failed as tears began to well in your eyes. He wiped a tear as it rolled down your face and pulled you into a tight hug, trying to get you to calm down. Once you felt a bit better, you pulled away from the hug and Peter went to brush a strand of hair away from your face and tuck it behind your ear. He stood up and went to get a hoodie for both of you and dropped a black hoodie on the bed next to you. You picked it up and knew immediately why he had grabbed it for you.

**************************************************************************

It was a hoodie you had gotten him for Valentine’s Day your senior year, having felt bad knowing that no one would be buying him anything and also in a desperate attempt to get him to realize you liked him. You had burst into the room you two shared, expecting him to be sitting there tinkering or maybe playing a video game. What you had not expected was to walk in on him halfway out of the Spider-man suit, a gash across Peter’s chest oozing blood. You slammed the door behind you and crossed the room, trying your hardest to ignore the blood and help Peter. You saw the look of panic cross Peter’s face as he tripped over his words trying to explain himself.

“Shut up. Bathroom, now!” You pointed to the bathroom connected to the bedroom. He quickly sat on the toilet as you rummaged through the bathroom drawers for your emergency kit and the hydrogen peroxide. You handed him a towel, “Here, bite this or May will hear.”

“Wh-wh-,” he tried to respond before you shot him daggers. He quickly put the towel in his mouth and you began to pour the liquid on his chest. His screams of pain were muffled and tears welled in his eyes as you dabbed the wound with a washcloth to make sure the wound was clean. Once it finally stopped fizzing, you applied an antibiotic ointment, steri strips and gauze across the gash and wrapped his pecs and upper part of his abs an ACE bandage. He stood up, weakly, the whole ordeal before and the pain from having to tend to the wound exhausting him.

You went back into the room to grab him a fresh change of clothes and handed them to him. He shut the door behind him, unusually quiet. When he came out you were sitting on the bottom bunk with the beautifully wrapped present, now a bit mangled from the box crashing on the floor in your lap. He didn’t seem to notice, his mind most likely running a million miles an hour. 

“Y/n, it’s not what it loo-”

“We don’t have to talk about it right now. I have a ton of questions but that can wait until you’re feeling a bit better. Here,” you said, handing him the present as he sat on the floor in front of you. “I got you this because you’re my best friend and you deserve to know how special you are to at least one person, me. It’s also a thank you for taking me in and sharing your room with me with everything going on right now. I don’t know what I would do without you. I know it’s not much, but it’s all I could afford right now.”

He tore through the wrapping paper to see a black LEGO Star Wars hoodie with Darth Vader on it and chuckled. “It’s great y/n, really. And I don’t know what I’d do without you either. There’s no need to thank me for all that because I’ll always have your back. You’re stuck with me, nerd. Besides, you should really be thanking May. I just agreed to it all.”

You laughed, “Oh, don’t worry about May, I already have a box of chocolates, card, and singing teddy bear sitting on the table for her for when she gets home.”

Peter feigned being hurt as he gasped, teasingly saying, “Oh, and all I got was a hoodie. Wooooow, y/n. That hurts.”

You grabbed the pillow next to you and lightly hit him with it, “Shut it, dork. You’re the one that didn’t get anyone anything.”

“Actually, I did.” He stated as he stood to get up. He went over to his dresser and pulled out a black box. “I got you this because I know you like weird things and I thought it would remind you of me when you wear it. I was already going to tell you about the whole, ahem, Spider-man thing tonight but I wasn’t expecting all of that,” he gestured to the bathroom door.

You opened the box to find a delicate necklace with a spider on it, the body made of garnet and the head adorned with eight little black stones. You stood up, handing him the necklace and turning away from him. You pulled your hair up, “Can you put it on me?” 

You barely felt the weight of the delicate little spider as he clasped the necklace. When he was done, you turned to look at him. “How’s it look?” you asked, fiddling with the spider to straighten it out. 

He gulped and just said, “Beautiful.” He took a step closer and looked down at your lips. You felt butterflies in your stomach as he leaned down. 

“Oh my god, is this really happening,” you thought. Your lips were so close and right as he was about to kiss you, you heard the door slam shut.

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“I can’t believe you still have this,” you said, completely taken aback.

He rubbed the back of his neck and looked flustered. “Of course I do, I kept everything you bought me. Now let’s get out there before Detective Stacy bursts a blood vessel.” He held his hand out for you and you took a deep breath as he opened the door. 

You walked outside of the bedroom and it was so silent you could hear a pin drop. You exited the hallway and was immediately squished into a bear hug, being subject to a Ned rant. “Oh my god, y/n, when I got that text I was so worried, but I knew you guys would need me so I came here straight from work. I can’t believe you guys have made up, does that mean Peter will stop being such a sad sack all the time. I swear since him and MJ broke up and you ghosted him, the only time I see him is when I force him to come out with me to the bar. I mean, I LITERALLY have to surprise him and drag him out for him to socialize. And what is going on because Peter didn’t expla-”

“Ned, Ned, NED, calm down. Take a breath. Please,” you said calmly, trying to get him to stop for a minute so you could process who all was here. You extracted yourself from the bear hug and looked around the room. You heard Aunt May gasp when your eyes fell on her and Betty had her arms crossed and looked at the ground when you looked at her. MJ was looking at you with anger and betrayal, which made more and less sense given what Ned had just divulged. “Do they all really hate me that much?”

Ned looked at you, REALLY looked at you and his jaw went slack. You looked down at the floor, rubbing the back of your neck and wishing the ground would just open up and swallow you whole. You felt tears welling in your eyes as Peter rubbed your back. Ned hugged you again, gentler this time. Almost like you were made of glass and he was terrified of shattering you. He whispered in your ear this time, though. “I’m so glad you’re safe. And I’m glad you got out before it became too late.” With that, the tears fell freely. “How can I still have this many tears left? I’m probably using all of my tears for a lifetime in a 24 hour period,” you thought.

You never cried much as a child and young adult but with everything that was happening it was like a hurricane of emotion had swept you up, tossing you until you couldn’t tell up from down. The only thing grounding you was Ned’s hug and Peter’s hand at this moment. You realized Peter was right. This was your family, even MJ who you would have to sort out everything with later, and they had come here to help in your time of need. It was going to take time and a lot of uncomfortable talks to get back to where you used to be with them, if you could ever completely repair the damage. This was a shaky but good first step to getting back to the you that you were before Harry.

“I know that you all have a lot of questions right now,” you stated, attempting to cut through the tension. “And I’ll tell you all after… I can’t say for sure when. But right now, I just need you guys to know how glad and shocked I am that you all came here. I’m in a bad situation right now and I need to move my stuff right now while there is a window.”

May stepped closer to you and put her hand on your shoulder, “Sweetie, you don’t owe us an explanation right now. Tell us when you feel ready.” She gave you a soft smile, but there was a sadness in her eyes that you hadn’t seen since your mom died. She turned to face Betty and MJ, “Alright everyone, let’s get to work. I’ll call the outreach center and get as many hands on deck as we can, they’ll have plenty of boxes and packing materials. Y/n, I need your address so I can have them meet us. We have some work to do so let’s move it!” She clapped her hands together and just like that, you all had a plan. 

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Detective Stacy escorted your group over to the apartment and helped all of you pack up your things. He was staying until you were done so Harry couldn’t say you stole anything or damaged any property, and also in case Harry got out before you all were done. While Peter and May helped the crew from the center know what to pack in the beginning, you dealt with your landlord to get out of the lease. MJ left after a few hours, saying she had work in the morning. You could tell she was lying, but didn’t push. You just thanked her for helping and asked to talk later. She gave a noncommittal shrug and left, so you weren’t quite sure what that meant. 

In total, it took 6 hours to pack up all of your stuff and move it into Peter’s. When you tried getting everyone to go home, May, Betty, and Ned refused until all of your stuff was unpacked as well. By the end of it all, Betty and Ned were fast asleep on the couch and Peter had only left your side to go get the 3 remaining people in your moving party some food. Which left you and May cleaning up the mess left behind from the day. You could tell she was deep in thought about something, but decided not to pry. The silence was killing you though, so you decided to at least say something.

“I’m happy to see you again. After what went down between us the last time we saw each other, I wasn’t quite sure you would come.”

She turned to face you, betrayal and hurt clear on her face. “Did you really think I wouldn’t? Y/n, … you’re like a daughter to me. And just like mothers and daughters, when we fight, it doesn’t mean I love you any less. I knew something was going on with you, I just wish I knew how bad it was earlier. I hate seeing you hurt like this, sweetheart.” She touched the ends of your hair while continuing, “I hate whoever did this to you. But I know your mom would be so proud of you for the strength you’ve shown today, because I am.”

You hugged her tightly as Peter walked in, brown bags in his arms. He looked skeptical as he set the food down on the counter, “Am I interrupting something, because I can leave again.” You looked at May, then Peter. You shook your head no, and let go of May.

“Nah, I’m just glad I’m so loved,” you said as you went to look in the bags for your food. “Now let’s eat, I’m starving!”

“Actually, I should probably get going,” Aunt May said, “It’s getting to be morning and I need to get some sleep. You two get some sleep, I mean it.” She gave you both a stern look before kissing Peter’s cheek and giving you another hug. “I’ll call when I get to my place, let you know I got  home safe.” She quickly went out the door and with that, it was just you and Peter. You both decided to eat in the bedroom so as to not wake your sleeping guests.

Peter quietly shut the door behind him before flopping onto the bed face first. “Longest. Day. Ever,” he said, muffled by the blankets. You just laughed at him before nudging him with your foot. When he didn’t respond, you decided to take action into your own hands.

“Alright, guess I’ll just eat your chow mein then, since I guess you’re asleep already.”

His head flew up as he looked at you with mock daggers. “You wouldn’t.”

“Wanna test your theory?” You said pulling out his take out container. He quickly scurried up the bed before taking it out of your hands, side eyeing you as he pulled out chopsticks from the bag. You ate your food in peace, a comfortable silence lulling over the two of you. When you were finished eating, Peter took the containers to the kitchen to put them in the fridge. You went to the bathroom to go get changed into your pajamas from the night before, as your clothes were still in boxes. 

You made a mental note of things you needed to get as you slipped out of your clothes. A dresser and bed were at the top of the list, because you sold those when you moved in with Harry. You knew you would think of more as the days wore on. When you were done, you brushed your teeth and headed to Peter’s room. You opened without knocking, to see an almost naked Peter, save for his underwear. You quickly realized your mistake, slamming the door shut again with a quick “Sorry” as you felt your face flush. 

A few minutes later, he called for you to let you know it was safe to enter. You made sure to knock this time, and walked in to see him already laying in bed. You crawled into the bed beside him, looking away from him for fear of him mocking you for blushing. But instead he just pulled you close to his chest, wrapping his arms around you tightly. 

“Good night, y/n.” 

“Goodnight, Petey.”

You quickly drifted off, but not before you felt him kiss the top of your head. You smiled softly to yourself before burying your face into his chest and falling into a deep sleep.

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Masterlist

Read Chapter 1, Chapter 2

Read Chapter 4,  Chapter 5